If anything, in the years since its release, the worlds of politics, entertainment, and news media have grown even more intertwined in which narratives are carefully controlled and expectations are minimal.

Hilary Henkin and David Mamet's script is gleefully hyperbolic without ever straying from its political target.

Lazily assembled by director Levinson, it slides into a series of soft, extended skits on engineering a media war, not helped by several badly handled leaps in the story.

Wag the Dog drips cynicism as it punches across its tattered message that "war is show business."