Don't Walk, Wag

I write a lot about movies on my other blog, The Crab Chronicles, so there is bound to be some cross pollination happening. I wanted to share an excerpt here of todays' post from there, because it recommends a terrific movie, Wag the Dog.

I understand that "Walk Hard, the Dewey Cox Story" is about to be released on DVD, or maybe is already out. I saw that movie. I was awful, IMHO. I have seen all the biopics it skewers, and it just stinks. Almost none of the satire works. I don't think I laughed out loud but once or twice. There are extended, gratuitous shots of male frontal nudity IN CLOSEUP. Not funny. Not only should children not see it, NOBODY should see it. I have long admired John C. Reilly, and this could have been really funny, but it isn't. It's just stupid.

Anyway, don't waste your money on Walk Hard. Get "Wag" instead. Here's my take on Wag the Dog:

Our movie selection last night was a movie that came out about 10 years ago called Wag the Dog . It's a political comedy of errors, and it's brilliant. Robert DeNiro stars and was a producer. Barry Levinson directed, and David Mamet was one of the screenplay writers.

The premise is that the president has been caught in a compromising position with a Firefly Girl [pseudonym for a girl scout, obviously] and is facing re-election in two weeks. Yes, Clinton was president when this was made. DeNiro is brought in to "fix" the situation, and decides to create a phony "war" and divert everyone's attention from the president's peccadilloes. Dustin Hoffman plays a Hollywood producer who helps create the fake news footage.

I explained the premise to the kids before it started. I even stopped the film a couple of times to explain it, because I could see it was going over their heads. Heck, it was tough for me to understand the first time I saw it. On the plus side, there is no nudity or onscreen violence. There are some curse words, but I don't get too riled about those. At one point Michael turned to me, eyes twinkling, and said "You show these words to us and you have to expect us to say them?" and I replied, "Nope, you know better than that."

After the film was over, both kids said they REALLY didn't like the movie. "It was stupid!" Alesia groused. Michael nodded. He spent most of the movie fidgeting. However, having sat through Jungle Book and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang recently, for the 100th time, I was not in a mood to be generous. "You think this movie was stupid, but High School Musical is a great film?!" I snapped. Alesia giggled.