Satiric 'Wag' gives no great shakes

REVIEW
	Wag the Dog At Showcase

Satire is probably the hardest film genre to pull off well. Satires have to be bitingly funny while retaining a certain realism.

"Wag the Dog," the latest film from director Barry Levinson, does neither, often dishing up flaccid commentary and ludicrously exaggerated stereotypes.

Ultimately, the biggest damper on this movie is the predictability of the jokes. Some of the cracks in "Wag the Dog" will sound very familiar; there is nothing earth-shatteringly innovative about the humor.

These same tired political witticisms are recycled in a smug fashion. "Wag the Dog" is a movie that is self-consciously oh-so-clever, full of barbed quips that are more canned than fresh.

Robert DeNiro plays Conrad Brean, a savvy and confident problem solver of the first rank. The White House recruits his wit to rectify the latest political crisis that has placed the president's future on a rocky path.

Information has been leaked to the press that the president engaged in ill-suited behavior with a 15-year-old Firefly girl. Bad timing! With the election only two weeks away, what can the president do to salvage his bid?

Enlisted by the president to fix the problem, Conrad dishes out absurd orders to the executive staff, telling them cryptically to say one thing to the press and then another, causing more eyebrow raising than support.

His associate in the White House is presidential aide Winifred Ames (Anne Heche). She plays the naive Washington acolyte, a woman not fully aware of the chicaneries of politics. Conrad molds Winifred into a hardened cynic.

Robert DeNiro and Anne Heche put a new spin on satire in "Wag the Dog."

Winifred often looks at Conrad in a "gosh darn it, he's so smart" manner, despite her hesitating conscience. Conrad willingly lives up to Winifred's admiring glances by delivering many glib pronouncements on the public's stupidity.

From Washington, the duo moves on to Hollywood. There, Conrad hires Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman), a film producer who needs a challenge. His task is to produce a war that will distract Americans from the president's philandering ways.

In short shrift, Stanley maximizes his artistic talents to produce a war with Albania. "Why Albania?" you may ask. As Conrad so mirthlessly states, the public knows nothing about Albania and will believe whatever they are told.

Although most of the jokes are stale and predictable, there were many deliciously ironic moments.

At one point, the presidential staff watches a tape featuring a commercial that will run after the scandal in the White House is exposed. The tape features a shot that zooms in on one of the White House windows while a baritone voice-over condemns the president to the tune of "Thank Heaven for Little Girls."

Another comedic touch comes with the musical numbers in "Wag the Dog." No war is complete without a patriotic jingle. Willie Nelson plays Johnny Green, the country-western songster who creates a "We-Are-The-World"- type number to unite the hearts of Americans everywhere.

"Wag the Dog" goes too far in its caricature of politics and Hollywood.

There is no subtlety to this satire. Either the characters are wholly cynical, completely naive or maddeningly enraptured by the production of this phony war.

We are meant to identify with Heche; her naivete with the ways of the world is supposed to reflect our own delusion. Yet, no one in the real world is quite as politically gullible as Heche's character.

DeNiro is irritating as a know-it-all and Hoffman is equally obnoxious as a producer looking for something to dispel his ennui.

Woody Harrelson puts in a greatcameo as a crazed war hero left behind the lines - a perfect hero who turns out to be a perfect, nun-raping psycho.

"Wag the Dog" fails to produce laughter because it goes over the top, losing itself in improbability and implausibility. The film is very slick and well shot, but lacks the spontaneity needed to carry the satire genre.

01-12-98