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He's the enforcer in the President's crisis staff: Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro). His dilemma: a few days before his re-election, his opponents feed the media the story that the President seduced an under-aged Girl Scout in the White House.
"Why does the dog wag his tail?" Brean asks when describing his strategy. "Because the dog is
smarter than his tail. If the tail were smarter, then it would wag the dog." Meaning, if the President is in danger, then why not stage a serious crisis, so that the scandal is forgotten. What state of emergency could do the trick? A war. With Albania. "Why Albania?" staff advisor Winifred
(Anne Heche) asks. "Why not?" Brean answers.
In the wake of the Monica Lewinsky case, Wag the Dog is a prime case of art, quite inadvertently, imitating life. But even without the help of the current scandals at the White House, Barry Levinson has lifted satire to new heights. Brean, the damage controller, has set up his chess board and is playing a match behind the scenes. His best pawn is Hollywood producer Stanley Moss (Dustin Hoffman), who joyfully participates in the show of his life. He moves his pawns - an extra plays a frightened refugee child, who is put via bluescreen into a photo of a bombed-out landscape, making the warzone palpable for every TV viewer. Brean knows very well that as soon as images from the Albanian war are on the news, there will actually be war, no matter how
much the opposition protests.
Despite the playful exaggeration, there are obvious parallels with network television, and the chess board of media strategists reveals itself as the graveyard of democracy. After Sleepers, Levinson brings Hoffman and De Niro together again - one feels their joyous gamesmanship in every scene. Levinson doesn't need costly special effects to bolster his star-studded film. His dynamic direction alone guarantees one of the most intelligent war games in recent memory.

Synopsis

Oscar-winner Barry Levinson (Rain Man) presents a media satire á l'américaine with a star cast and a big budget ($15 million) with this adaptation of Larry Beinhart's bestseller American Hero. In order to save the President, the White House security adviser Ronnie Brean (Robert De Niro) and Hollywood producer Stanley Moss (Dustin Hoffman), a shrewd customer, form a unique alliance to cover up a Presidential sex scandal. Since a war is the best thing to deflect attention from problems at home, they create a virtual reality war with Albania on their computer, complete with newsclips and a war hero (Woody Harrelson), and when it's broadcast, the public believes it's really happening. Funny and ironic cinema that uses every opportunity for side-swipes at Hollywood and Washington.

 (Dir): Barry Levinson (Scr): Hilary Henkin, David Mamet, nach dem Roman American Hero von Larry Beinhart (Cast): Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Anne Heche, Woody Harrelson (Running time): 97 Minutes
 

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