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The tour of NewsNet gives a fractured nation's nerve center in full sway, "thank God for arrogance, lust and greed, or we'd all be doing infomercials." The crisis du jour has a jetload of Pakistani orphans headed for Idaho, the governor (Beau Bridges) is a jackass posing as an anti-immigration hardliner, stumping for closed borders while on the side dallying with a Mexican reporter (Elizabeth Peña). Widespread divisiveness escalates the situation, "the whole goddamn state is one big militia now." The President (Phil Hartman) is "as confused as a goat on AstroTurf," his lobbyist (James Coburn) keeps a beady eye on media perception, the doomsday deadline is delayed to avoid interrupting All My Children. "The country is falling apart. We don't need exclamation points." Joe Dante's State of the Union for the Nineties, a splendid tragicomedy closer to the mournful wrath of Aldrich's Twilight's Last Gleaming than to the self-patting caricature of Levinson's Wag the Dog. The war zone correspondent (Denis Leary) marvels at the grand soldier that was John Wayne, the classic screen gets flattened by a National Guard tank. (Brian Keith is the Hollywood relic of choice, perfectly matched with Jerry Hardin as a couple of military dinosaurs rubbing noses at the front line.) Temptation of the medium, "fuck reality, this is image!" Dan Hedaya, Kevin McCarthy, Ron Perlman and William Schallert are keyed to the choleric timbre, Joanna Cassidy offers a showstopping essay on the dissolution of the anchorwoman's glazed poise. James Earl Jones as the seasoned journalist laments "the bazaar built on the ruins of the melting pot," Lady Liberty topples over a single misheard word. A farce packed with real bullets, antic and grave, originally discarded upon release but dolorously vindicated by history. With Kevin Dunn, Dick Miller, Catherine Lloyd Burns, Rance Howard, Roger Corman, Robert Picardo, Alexandra Wilson, Sean Lawlor, Belinda Balaski, Jennifer Carlson, Larry Jenkins, and Diane Sainte-Marie.
--- Fernando F. Croce |