On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched the 1997 comedy Wag the Dog, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Anne Heche, Dennis Leary, Willie Nelson, Andrea Martin and Kirsten Dunst, with a screenplay by David Mamet and cinematography by Robert Richardson.

Wag the Dog tells the story of a scandal-ridden president whose chief spin doctor, Conrad Brean (De Niro), decides to distract the public with a fictional war with Albania. To pull this off, he hires Stanley Motss (Hoffman), a prominent Hollywood producer who throws himself into orchestrating an imaginary war, complete with fake footage, fake war heroes and a popular theme song. The hoax is successful, but it soon comes with a host of complications which require Brean and Motss to take quick action to further deceive the public.

In their conversation, Jamelle and John discuss the cynicism, shallowness and laziness of Levinson and Mamet’s depiction of Washington politics, as well as a few real-life examples of manufactured wars, and why most Hollywood political satire just doesn’t work.

The tagline for Wag the Dog was “A comedy about truth, justice and other special effects.”

You can find Wag the Dog to rent or buy on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.

Episodes come out every two weeks so stay-tuned for our upcoming episode on Murder at 1600.

And don’t forget our Patreon, where we cover the political thrillers of the Cold War and we offer weekly political commentary. You can subscribe for just $5 at patreon.com/unclearpod.

Our producer is Connor Lynch and our artwork is by Rachel Eck.