DVD Review:Wag The Dog
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Wag The Dog: Platinum Edition
New Line Home Video
PS/1.85:1/AC3/Extras/Trailer/16x9
The president is in the middle of a sex scandal. What to do? Call in the world's top spin doctor, Conrad Brean(played excellently with subtle neuance by Robert Deniro). What's the president to do? Well, let's go to war. With who? Albania. Why Albania? Why Not?
To help produce this war, Brean calls in a Hollywood producer named Stanley Motss(Dustin Hoffman, in his best performance in years.)
The film sets up a wonderfully absurd premise and just keeps upping the stakes with a war hero, promotions and more. Just when you think the film couldn't get anymore outlandish, it goes far higher. The group of Motss, Brean and Ames(Anne Heche) put together the makings of a war to distract the public in this fun, smart and wildly witty film written by David Mamet. It was number 2 on my list of the top 10 films of 1997.
New Line has done a great job transfering this film to video. It's not a strong film in terms of audio, but visually, it's great. The colors are crisp and clear and pop off the screen, like the red scarf that Deniro's character wears throughout the film and the lights at an out-of-the-way restauraunt.
They've also done an excellent job putting together a special edition:
*Commentary from Dustin Hoffman and director Barry Levinson
*The early full trailer.
*Interview with William H. Macy on writer David Mamet
*Documentary on Hollywood in Washington DC("From Washington To Hollywood And Back")
*Text Bios/Animated Scene Selection
*Essay on Politics and the Media("The Thin Line Between Truth and Fiction.")
The commentary with Levinson and Hoffman is decent; Levinson has more to say than Hoffman does and overall, I just didn't feel I'd found out enough about the background of making the film.
Transfer/Picture:A-
Audio:B
Film:A
Extras:A-
Overall Package:A
