Plot: What’s it about?
You can’t make this stuff up.
There’s something about political satire that just makes life a little better. We elect these officials to “lead” us, but it doesn’t take a lot to realize that these folks are human and often fall from grace. Unfortunately some are more difficult to get rid of than others. This review is being written in 2026, nearly three decades after this film’s release. At that time the current President of the United States, Bill Clinton, was in the midst of a scandal with a White House intern – Monica Lewinsky. Clinton then launched attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan, presumably to distract the general public from his transgressions. Flash forward nearly three decades and our current President, Donald Trump, has had allegations about pedophilia – oddly the exact message that this film is conveying. Trump then goes to war with Iran likely in the same vein as Clinton – to distract Americans from what’s really going on. And just think – we elected these people. As Robert DeNiro’s character says: “It’s true, I saw it on TV.”
And so we have Wag the Dog.
It’s an election year and the President (a nameless/faceless person for all intents and purposes) has evidently forced himself on a “Firefly Girl” just a few weeks before his re-election. This will spell disaster for his campaign so something needs to be done to take the heat off the man in the White House. Conrad Brean (Robert DeNiro) is brought in as someone who can get the job done and by enlisting the help of a Hollywood Producer (Dustin Hoffman). The two invent a war with the country of Albania to divert the voting public off of the “Firefly Girl” scandal. The fact that this works isn’t the main point of the movie, it’s how things are done that really is the draw. We see how closely connected with the White House these people are, how they can use the system to manipulate the public’s image of anyone. It’s rather disturbing. The real draw here are Hoffman and DeNiro who are in top form and having a great time with their roles.
As all satire goes, there is a sad lesson at the end. Naturally I won’t say what it is, but satire is satire for a reason. Nothing in life is permanent and will last forever. Wag the Dog sports a fine supporting cast with Craig T. Nelson, Kirsten Dunst, Woody Harrelson and Anne Heche to name just a few. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, Dustin Hoffman for Best Actor (he would lose to Jack Nicholson for As Good as it Gets) and Best Original Screenplay (screenwriter David Mamet would lose to Brian Helgeland for L.A. Confidential). Three decades later and, sadly, very little has changed in the political arena. There have been major advancements in filmmaking, but as I stated at the precipice of this review – you simply can’t make this stuff up. And I’m willing to bet that this film’s release on Blu-ray isn’t entirely coincidental.
Video: How does it look?
It’s a bit puzzling how we’ve seen some films get multiple Blu-ray and 4K releases, yet we’ve got this one – film nominated for two Academy Awards – that’s not even been released on Blu-ray. That’s a travesty! The good news is that the wait is over and Warner Archive has gone back and given this a new 4K scan from the original camera negative. Yes, folks that means you can now safely get rid of your New Line Platinum Series DVD from 1997. Having not seen the film in years, I was excited to see how it looked and, to my delight, it’s spot on gorgeous. The 1.85:1 AVC HD encode has given the film a bit more color, depth and detail – all things we’d expect from this new transfer. The “early CGI” in some scenes looks a bit dated, but it’s not a fault of the transfer. The film has a nice, glossy sheen to it and certainly has a film like look. There are still a couple of scenes that were a bit on the softer side, but by and large this is a major step forward for the film and its resulting look on screen.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Digital 5.1 track found on the DVD has been replaced by a more robust DTS HD Master Audio mix. The movie is mainly dialogue-driven with some ambient effects thrown in here and there for some extra action. The front stage bears the brunt of the soundtrack and I did notice a few times when the surrounds came into play, but not that many. This certainly isn’t one of those movies that’ll show off the limits of your system, but the mix here is serviceable and more than gets the job done.
Supplements: What are the extras?
- Audio Commentary – Director Barry Levinson and Dustin Hoffman. The two are very chatty and deliver a very good tongue-in-cheek track that’s nearly as enjoyable as the movie itself. There’s also a featurette on political satire as a whole and some interviews with the writer.
- From Washington to Hollywood – This archival featurette explores some of the real-world interactions between political spin and media manipulation in the industry. We get some quips from the film’s director, Barry Levinson, producer Jane Rosenthal and journalists like Tom Brokaw. The political strategies are looked at as they mirror the Hollywood “magic factory” and how things like this eerily predict real-life events (even 30 years later).
- Theatrical Trailer
