Rating: 
Summary: I could not buy the premise of this film.
Review: Everybody seems to like this movie, but for me it seemed such a far-fetched premise that I couldn't buy into it. How is it possible for one Hollywood producer with a short strip of film covering one scene able to fool the entire news media industry? How is it possible that no other news organization would not send a reporter to verify a war? How is it possible that no one would have a pang of conscience about misleading the public to hide molestation? Dustin Hoffman jumped around in this role like he was trying very hard to believe this premise but couldn't really bring himself to do it. I had to shut it off after forty minutes, it seemed so contrived.
Rating: 
Summary: amazing, yet funny
Review: a wonderful cast and a brilliant story make up this great film. it reveals the ugly in a comical fashion and posts a "beware" sign for its viewers. you can see it for the acting, see it for the story, or see it to relect upon its meaning. it makes one ask the question of "fact or fiction" not only of this movie, but of everything in the political world. END
Rating:
Summary: A Documentary Disguised as a Comedy
Review: Many people have compared this movie's plot to what's happened with Clinton. Fair comparison, I suppose, but what the movie is really about is the political process, which seems to be entirely about spin doctors and media frenzies, and this transcends any single administration. The dialog in this movie was spectacular, as were the performances by Hoffman and DeNiro. The only really disappointing casting choice was having Woody what'shisname play a crazed sociopath yet again. This movie is not for the person who still believes in our politicians or those who report them. It's also not appropriate for those who are prone to have accidents when they laugh too hard. END
Rating:
Summary: Triggers The Gag Threshold!
Review: Maybe this movie is so close to the truth that it is not funny. I thought it was very boring with a capital "B". The shallowness of the whole production was enough to rate this one a real sleeper! END
Rating:
Summary: Inspired?
Review: A US President is implicated in a sex scandal and the spin doctors go to war to distract the media. Now where have I heard that recently? On the news! I first saw Wag the Dog at the cinema as the Clinton/Lewinsky affair was coming to a head. There was some grumbling about Iraq in the media at the time, and the film seemed a little ahead of the game. I watched Wag the Dog on DVD the same weekend air strikes were launched against Sudan and Afghanistan, and as a US President was sinking deeper into the mire. Did reality inspire the film, the film inspire the events that later took place, or both? Did anything actually take place, or are we all being played by an unwitting media? Interesting questions and an interesting film. Well played too. END
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting study of the media, great commentary track
Review: I found the running audio commentary track to be very interesting, Hoffman and Levinson have some useful insight into the moviemaking process and reasoning for making this movie, a study of the media's capacity for manipulation of the American people. While the scenario in the film is a bit far-fetched in my opinion, it is delivered with top-notch performances by an excellent cast. It is definitely an impetus to think about media's message, in a McLuhan kind of way. END
Rating: 
Summary: CLINTON PARODY
Review: "Wag the Dog" was straight out of the Clinton files. The President (partially shown, but apparently not resembling Clinton physically or politically) defiles a girl scout on a White House trip and it becomes public. In real life Clinton lobbed bombs at Iraq and Bosnia to get the story off page one. In the movie a Bob Evans-type movie producer (Dustin Hoffman) is asked to create fake footage of a war with Albania, in order to get the girl scout story off page one. Think of the personal characterictics of Ron Reagn, then the personal characteristics of Bill Clinton. Nuf sed. STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
STWRITES@AOL.COM
Rating:
Summary: This movie was funnier BEFORE we started engineering wars...
Review: Oh dear. Originaly a parody of the Lewinsky "situation," this movie has grown even more timely since its release. We are currently embroiled in a fake war that this movie definately saw coming: from manufactured heros that don't quite work out (whatever happened to Jessica Lynch anyways?) to theme songs ("Let the Eagle Soar," anyone?) to photo-op battles (the pulling down of Saddam's statue, with the American tanks off-camera so that it looked like it was being done by a mob of Iraqis). This is a very funny parody that is sometimes subtle, sometimes abrasive, but always hits its target dead on: whether it is the greasy advisors, the complacent news media, or the easily duped American public. Everyone should give it a watch before the next presidential election.
Rating:
Summary: Wag the Dog
Review: This movie has got to be the worst script ever written. If it even had a script. It must have been conceived during a dream of a left-winger. It is a conspiracy fantasy of how the White House must be for those who have no idea of how to cope with real world. In the end, the movie has two great actors, Dustin Hoffman and Roberth DeNiro wasting their breath.
Rating:
Summary: Great Satire, Not So Great Movie
Review: Wag The Dog is a brilliant political satire that is more relevant today than ever before. The film is based aroudn the precept of a president who is up for reelection and suddenly hit by (would ya believe it) a sex scandal in the oval office. In an effort to draw public attention away from the sex scandal it is decided to "fake" a war with Albania. Take into account this movie was made BEFORE the monica lewinsky drama - in fact it was released just a few weeks before the whole clinton sex scandal broke. Prophetic?
The movie actually had nothing to do with clinton. it was based on a book, which argued that the gulf war never really happened and was filmed and produced by hollywood producers hired by the first Bush administration to boost an otherwise failing presidency. However Wag The Dog doesnt focus on any specific president, but more on the concept of a precidency faking a war and manipulating public perception.
The issues brought up by Wag The Dog invite a welcome debate in america. It Criticizes the heavy use of spin doctors in political campagnes and how the president in our times is a "product" that we are "sold". It raises questions as to where the limits of this power to decieve the public could end and prompts one to contemplate the relationships between the public, the media, and the goverment. The fact is the media now-a-days cares more about ratings than truth and feels more like entertainment than information. The impact of sound bytes and headlines and those pictures and stories that capture the public mind on our democracy cannot be underestimated.
The problem? The problem is that while Wag The Dog is a great topic of discussion for after you watch it, and is VERY politically relevant... it just isnt a very good movie. It's not very funny for a comedy, and is many times disengaging and unbelievable in thier specific story-line. Robert Dinero and the rest of the cast deliver good performances but to a fairly bland script. This movie definatley looks a lot better on paper than on screen.
The bottom line is that Wag The Dog makes an excellent movie to watch in a classroom to instigate a thoughtful debate about politics and the media. Wag The Dog is probably a movie every american should force themselves to sit through at least once and then really think about. And Wag The Dog is a movie that trancends hollywood to an extent that the term "wag the dog" is a commonly known term now in politics and in the media (IE 'you think the president is pulling a wag the dog?). It is and SHOULD REMAIN a heavily discussed film. However, all in all, the movie in and of itself offers little to the audience and is not likely to be enjoyed or remembered by many by anything EXCEPT it's underlying theme.
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