Wag the Dog

Wag the Dog
January 9, 1998
New Line Cinema
Comedy
VHS
B-

This was released the same day as Good Will Hunting, but it has dated worse, partly because it became dated almost immediately.  Yes, the writers are not to blame that Clinton would be involved in a sex scandal (with an over-21 intern rather than a teenage Firefly Girl), but the timing could've been better.  The main problem is that the movie generally is never as incisive and clever, or for that matter as impressively outrageous, as it thinks it is.  2009's In the Loop would be better on all these counts, as well as have an actual war result within the film rather than a "pageant" of war.  That said, I think Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman work well together.  (They would later be in-laws in Meet the Fockers, which I've seen but don't own.)  Anne Heche isn't bad but makes less of an impression.  And the less said about Woody Harrelson's psycho rapist comic relief character, the better.

George Gaynes, who kept hitting on Hoffman in Tootsie, here has a much smaller role, as Senator Cole.  Kevin Furlong was Dennis Riday in Hot to Trot, and is Jockey #2 here.  Phillip V. Caruso is primarily a still photographer, but he played photographers in this and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.  Jenna Byrne plays Sharon here and would be Cindy Castellucci in The Wedding Singer, while Jason Cottle is A.D. here and would play Byrne's husband Scott there.  Derrick Morgan is a CIA Agent here and would be Armcast Henson in Never Been Kissed.

As in In & Out, Jay Leno appears as himself.  Craig T. Nelson plays the President's opponent, Senator John Neal.  This time, Kirsten Dunst plays Tracy Lime, the young actress pretending to be Albanian.  Andrea Martin isn't given much to do as brainstormer Liz Butsky, but she does it flamboyantly of course.

At least it has a better title than "Good Will Hunting," even if it does need an explanation.

Troop Beverly Hills

Troop Beverly Hills
March 24, 1989
Fries Entertainment
Comedy
VHS
C+

While there are things to like about this movie-- Betty Thomas's performance as the villainess, the redheaded-in-this Shelley Long's wardrobe, and the Beach Boys song "Make It Big," which plays over the opening and closing credits-- I must admit I find it a bit toothless and forgettable.  One big flaw is that while Long's character and the pack of not-Girl-Scouts are likable enough, I didn't find myself at all drawn in by their problems, because everything is so cliched and formulaic.  (Even Long's character's estrangement from Craig T. Nelson is blah.)  Mary Gross is the most conflicted character, as a nice person caught up Thomas's schemes, but her problem is also easily resolved.  The other major flaw is that there are a whole bunch of cameos and it's on a sub-Scooby-Doo level, e.g. "Look, it's Pia Zadora," and then she's given little to do, unlike in Hairspray.  (The one exception is Ted McGinley, who boasts-- boasts!-- about being Ace the photographer on The Love Boat, as if he knows that someday they'll name a "Jump the Shark" webpage after him.)

The script was written by two female Saturday Night Live writers from the first half of the '80s, so it's not unreasonable to expect a sharper satire.  Even the jokes about the Marcos-like dictator couple are pretty bland.  Not only Clueless, but this movie's peer Earth Girls Are Easy would more intelligently and more amusingly mock the Southern Californian lifestyle.

Mary Gregory, who plays the judge, was Dr. Melik in Sleeper.  Willie Garson, who plays Bruce, would be Phil's Assistant Kenny in Groundhog Day.  Betty Thomas and Shelley Long must've gotten along a lot better than their characters did, since Thomas would direct Long in the first big-screen Brady Bunch movie.

The battle for Mary Gross's soul begins!