Moviegoers may avoid Wag the Dog simply because of its extreme premise, but come on, if you could digest Face/Off this new political satire should be no problem to grasp.

The plot is nothing less than cracked, and believe it or not, seems wildly familiar. The president allegedly made sexual advances toward a young girl in the Oval Office no less just days short of the election in which he was heavily favored to win. This is just the scandal that can kill his credibility and any chance at a second term.

Crazy, right? Of course. But if it worked, who would really be the crazy ones?

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Brean is teamed up with presidential adviser Winifred Ames (Anne Heche) and film producer Stanley Motss (played by Dustin Hoffman at his whiney comic best) to put together the facts, people and reasons behind this war.

We watch, cackling at humor as dry as fast food beef, as this team travels the country hooking up with a crazy assortment of people who are going to put this country at war with. . . Albania.

Hoffman is probably the true standout, especially when he tries to assess every dire situation with a comparison to his producing career.

Heche plays Ames as a walking anxiety attack, and it works as the counterpoint to Brean’s calm confidence under pressure. DeNiro’s well-acted and convincing speech to the CIA boss and his last scene with Hoffman reveal what kind of person is really behind Brean’s next-door-neighbor appearance.

Director Barry Levinson deserves credit for making this film flow so well. The pop-star sensations (well, they were at one time or another) Huey Lewis, Mark Knopfler, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard wrote hilarious pro-war songs that played a big part in the success of this movie.