Wag the Dog
New Line Cinema | Release Date: December 25, 1997 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie is a satire that contains just enough realistic ballast to be teasingly plausible; like "Dr. Strangelove," it makes you laugh, and then it makes you wonder. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
If the result is often as glib as the targets it's satirizing, it's also driven by a cruelly distilled joy. Wag the Dog is an ode to the thrill of deception, a thrill embodied in Hoffman's inspired performance. Read full review
90
Dallas ObserverMichael Sragow
Director Barry Levinson has given this swift, sure-footed film a matter-of-fact, improvisational look and feel. To appreciate its brisk, confident, wild comedy, all you need is a funny bone and a BS meter. Read full review
90
NewsweekDavid Ansen
It's a deliciously outrageous premise, and director Barry Levinson and writers David Mamet and Hilary Henkin know just how to spin it, savaging Washington and Hollywood with merciless wit. It's a hoot. Read full review
90
The New York TimesElvis Mitchell
Wag the Dog, the poison-tipped political satire that's as scarily plausible as it is swift, hilarious and impossible to resist. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A gloriously cynical black comedy that functions as a wicked smart satire on the interlocking worlds of politics and show business, Wag the Dog confirms every awful thought you've ever had about media manipulation and the gullibility of the American public. And it has a great deal of fun doing it. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Sharp scripting, note-perfect performances, and nimble direction and technical execution combine to make Wag the Dog one of the wittiest and most mordant political satires to come along in quite some time. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This is one of Levinson's best films, and the screenplay, co-penned by noted writer David Mamet (along with Hilary Henkin), is brilliantly on-target. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Wag The Dog is an oft-hilarious, witty, scathing satire that represents four gifted if uneven artists (De Niro, Hoffman, Levinson, and Mamet) at the top of their respective games. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
This is hilarious, deadly stuff, sparked by the cynical gusto of the two leads as well as the fascinating technical display of how TV "documentary evidence" can be digitally manufactured inside a studio. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Barry Levinson's dark comedy is sly, funny, and unnerving. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Levinson's sure touch keeps audiences smiling and manages to maintain an aura of good nature in a film that, at heart, offers a caustic, almost bitter vision of American institutions and contemporary politics. Read full review
75
San Francisco ExaminerWalter Addiego
It's a testament to what happens when all the right ingredients come together. Wag the Dog is the best political satire in years. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
WAG the Dog is a cozy political satire, the warm-and-fuzzy kind that is always entertaining yet never disturbing. Read full review
70
VarietyGodfrey Cheshire
Glib cynicism isn't a tremendously appealing quality, but in Wag the Dog it at least has the benefit of comic precision and polished handling. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Denby
Barry Levinson’s political and media satire Wag the Dog goes as fast as the wind, and that’s a relief because the idea behind the movie is thin. Very thin -- and at times offensively glib. Read full review
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