Wag the Dog - DVD
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Wag the Dog sends a White House fixer and a Hollywood producer out to manufacture a war, two weeks before the president faces re-election.
The setup
A scandal breaks in the Oval Office at the worst possible moment, so Conrad Brean is brought in to pull the country's attention somewhere else.
His answer is to stage a conflict the way a studio stages a picture, with a producer hired to choreograph it. The source is a Larry Beinhart novel.
What reviewers mention
Reviewers on Amazon keep returning to the two leads and to how little the satire has dated, one of them calling it a thing to watch before an election.
Barry Levinson directed. The disc runs 97 minutes and carries commentary plus a making of piece.
Synopsis
Director Barry Levinson's political and media satire based on Larry Beinhart's novel, American Hero. The President of the United States, who is up for re-election, has just been accused of sexual misconduct with a Girl Scout in the Oval Office. The White House staff calls in top spin doctor Conrad Brean (Robert DeNiro) to do damage control.
His idea: distract the press from the scandal by creating a war in Albania. In order to pull this off Brean hires Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) to choreograph his "pageant." Keep in mind this is satire... not truth, not that you'd notice it of course. Also starring Denis Leary, Woody Harrelson and Willie Nelson. Featuring commentary by Hoffman, and Levinson.
Also including "The Line Between Truth and Fiction."
Director(s)
Starring
Dustin Hoffman, Robert de Niro, Anne Heche, Woody Harrelson, Denis Leary, David Koechner, Harland Williams, Roebuck "Pops" Staples, Willie Nelson, Andrea Martin, Michael Belson, Suzanne Cryer, John Michael Higgins, Suzie Plakson, Kirsten Dunst, Jason Cottle, William H. Macy, Bernard Hocke, Phil Morris, Chris Ellis, J. Patrick McCormack, Jennifer Manley, Richard Lawson, Drena de Niro, Stephanie Kemp, John Cho, Ron McCoy, Merle Haggard, James Belushi, George Gaynes
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