01/09/98
MOVIE REVIEW: Wag the Dog
Levinson's 'Dog' has a satirical bite

By MICHAEL JANUSONIS
Journal-Bulletin Arts Writer

**** (out of five)
Starring Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Anne Heche, Woody Harrelson, Denis Leary, Willie Nelson, Andrea Martin, Kirsten Dunst, William H. Macy, Craig T. Nelson. A New Line picture written by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet, directed by Barry Levinson. Rated R, contains profanity. Running time: 98 minutes.

The incumbent president of the United States is caught fondling a little girl in the Oval Office just 11 days before voters are to go to the polls in Barry Levinson's outrageous political satire, Wag the Dog.

Quickly, all the President's men -- and his right-hand woman, too -- are off to Hollywood to enlist the aid of a movie producer in diverting media and public attention away from the sordid facts. Soon there's talk of the mysterious B-3 bomber -- so mysterious, in fact, that it doesn't really exist -- and a brouhaha brewing about Balkan nuclear subterfuge that could lead to war with backward, hapless Albania, of all places.

Levinson royally skewers the American political system -- and Hollywood's belief in its own fantasy-making abilities -- in his biting, black-humored comedy. This one has the kind of raw energy and total nuttiness that hasn't been seen much on screen since Stanley Kubrick had fun with nuclear war in Dr. Strangelove more than 30 years ago. It's the kind of movie where media manipulation builds up the exploits of a fabricated war hero who's supposedly missing in action, then serves up a deranged psycho when a war hero must be produced to feed the public interest.

Not much is held back in a film where Robert De Niro's political spin doctor Conrad Brean describes war as "show business." Clearly, politics is, too, in a movie where the president is never seen except briefly from behind. He is hiding out in China while Brean and his press officer, Winifred Ames (Anne Heche), go to producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) to concoct ways of creating a smoke screen for him. Wag the Dog is saying that the president is really unnecessary in today's world of spin doctors and media manipulators.

Through Motss's (the "t" is silent) efforts, soon songwriter Johnny Green (Willie Nelson) is brought in to write catchy ditties that will captivate the public, even though, as Green points out, "Albania is hard to rhyme."

Even better, an unknown actress is hired to run, with a worried and frantic look, in front of a blue screen across a Hollywood sound stage while carrying a bag of nacho chips. Computer graphics will later add in a war-torn Albanian landscape behind her and the kitten that she's supposed to be holding when the footage is handed over to the networks. After seeing Wag the Dog, which has a barbed and very cynical script by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet, you might wonder if you can believe anything you see or hear or read anymore.

Their script goes on to question such recent real events as the American invasion of Grenada and the Gulf War. Americans, we're told, bought the latter because of one picture of one missile going down one chimney in Iraq. Wag the Dog says it was really all done by a Hollywood special effects crew. Food for thought, anyway.

"If Kissinger can win the Nobel Peace Prize," remarks the matter-of-fact Brean, "I wouldn't be surprised to wake up and find I'd won the Preakness."

De Niro beautifully underplays Brean and his flights of fancy, which quickly become national policy that push America to the brink of war. Heche is wonderfully amazed as Winifred, who seems always startled by the outrageous plots being hatched, though she quickly sees their merit and eagerly joins in.

Hoffman, who last played one of Mamet's most famous characters in Michael Corrente's production of American Buffalo, convincingly carries the whole thing off as the producer who gets caught up in the fantasy world he's creating. "Give 'em what they want," he says with relish. No sudden disaster is too problematic to rock Stanley's confidence. "This is nothing! Piece of cake!" he bellows when a new crisis looms.

Stanley's only mistake is to let his egotistical pride come to the fore and demand top billing on his biggest production of all. He sees "his" war, "his" hero and "his" election campaign as worthy of the Oscar he has so longed for, but never received. Unfortunately, he hasn't counted on the cutthroat world of Washington, whose rules can be even scarier than Hollywood's.

Other small, but strong, showings are given by Woody Harrelson as the deranged "war hero," Nelson as the tunesmith who has a song for any occasion, Craig T. Nelson as the President's honest opponent and William H. Macy as the head of the CIA, who debunks the Albania conspiracy, but then just as quickly sees its merits.

Levinson bounds through this Wonderland of material with grace and economy. Wag the Dog was made in a hurry, but it never shows on screen. You'll be laughing too hard to notice.