Wag The Dog - Plot

Plot

When an unnamed president of the United States is caught in a closed room making advances on an underage "Firefly Girl" (the fictional equivalent of a Girl Scout) less than two weeks before re-election, Conrad Brean (De Niro), a top notch spin-doctor, is brought in to try to take the public attention away from the scandal. He decides to construct a fake war with Albania, hoping the media will concentrate on this instead. In order to come up with his 'war', he contacts a Hollywood producer named Stanley Motss (Hoffman), who brings in a series of specialists who help construct a theme song, build up interest, and fake some footage of an orphan in Albania.

The plan's setbacks, including an error that led to seizing a criminally insane Army prison convict (Harrelson) to be their "hero" who was "shot down behind enemy lines," do not disturb Motss, who repeatedly claims "this is nothing" while comparing the situation to past movie-making catastrophes he averted. In the end, with the election having taken place and the president re-elected, everything seems fine until Motss finds out from the news outlets that the media are crediting the president's win to his tired campaign slogan of "Don't change horses in mid stream" rather than Motss's elaborate plans. Motss announces that he will call the media to "set them straight," despite Brean's warning that he is "toying with his life." When Motss refuses to back down, Brean has him killed and makes it look as if he had a heart attack while tanning next to his pool. The film ends with a news report about a violent incident in Albania, but it is unclear whether this is a true event or simply a continuation of the fictional war.