February 10, 1998 -- Not since "The China Syndrome" came out shortly before Three Mile Island has a film been so uncannily copied by real life events.

"Wag the Dog" depicts events chillingly similar to what is happening right now. In the movie the president of the United States is accused of sexual misconduct with a young girl. A spin doctor (Robert De Niro) named Conrad BreanAnne is brought in to put out the fires.

BreanAnne goes to Hollywood where he meets with a producer, Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman), an expert on public opinion called the Fad King (Denis Leary) and songwriter Johnny Green (Willie Nelson) to come up with a plan to save the election, now only two weeks away.

BreanAnne wants to start a mock war with Albania in order to divert the public's attention from the sex scandal. Motss and Leary come up with ideas for fake news footage of an Albanian woman fleeing from terrorists and Green is assigned the task of coming up with a patriotic song about the fake war.

Also in on the fun are White House PR person Winifred Ames (Anne Heche), a fake POW, Sgt. William Schumann (Woody Harrelson) CIA operative Mr. Young (William H. Macy) and many other fine actors.

Although the story is just outrageous enough to not be quite believable, it is audacious enough to carry you along for the ride. While you find yourself laughing at it, the film also makes you squirm. You begin to think that maybe this really has happened, or will happen, or is happening.

DeNiro, Hoffman, Leary and Heche are marvelous. They create interesting, intelligent, witty characters with high energy. Hoffman is especially good as a producer who has seen it all. He becomes completely immersed in the spin control, rising to every challenge and savoring every second. He loves the challenge.

Veteran director Barry Levinson does a great job of keeping the energy level high. The action is almost totally verbal, but it seems almost like an action film. The dialogue, from Larry Beinhart's novel, American Hero, and screenwriters Hilary Henkin and David Mamet, is pungent throughout. The plot has plenty of twists and turns. This film rates an A.

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