01
The Candidate
Why this pick
Like Wag the Dog, it treats electoral politics as a professionally manufactured spectacle, balancing nimble satire with an increasingly uneasy sense of how image-making consumes principle.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1997 1h 37m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
Wag the Dog
ComedyDrama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved Wag the Dog, try these.
01
02
Our Brand Is Crisis
Why this pick
A sharp, cynical campaign-room comedy about consultants engineering public perception; its tactical brinkmanship and moral queasiness closely echo Wag the Dog’s media-savvy political manipulation.
03
Bulworth
Why this pick
This similarly mordant political satire finds dark comedy in campaigns, television and messaging, using an absurd premise to expose the calculated performance behind public life.
04
In the Loop
Why this pick
Its rapid-fire, caustic portrait of officials and spin doctors turns policy messaging into ruthless farce, matching Wag the Dog’s pleasure in watching narratives be manufactured under pressure.
05
The Death of Stalin
Why this pick
Though set in a dictatorship rather than an election, it shares the film’s dry, vicious comic view of power as a performance sustained by panic, self-interest and expertly managed appearances.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
The President is caught making advances on an underage Firefly Girl inside the Oval Office, less than two weeks before the election. Conrad Brean, a top spin doctor, is brought in by presidential aide Winifred Ames to take the public's attention away from the scandal. He decides to construct a fictional war in Albania, hoping the media will concentrate on this instead. Brean contacts Hollywood producer Stanley Motss to create the war, complete with a theme song and fake film footage of a photogenic orphan. The hoax is initially successful, with the President quickly gaining ground in the polls after appearing.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Dustin Hoffman
Stanley Motss
Robert De Niro
Conrad Brean
Anne Heche
Winifred Ames
Willie Nelson
Johnny Dean
Jason Cottle
A.D.
Suzie Plakson
Grace
Woody Harrelson
Sergeant William Schumann
Jim Belushi
Jim Belushi