This wickedly funny political satire suggests, undoubtedly correctly, that political campaigning has more to do with showmanship than it should. The plot has a spin doctor and a Hollywood producer team up to conjure nothing less than a fictional war with Albania to distract public attention from a sex scandal involving the President. Though I doubt the actual plausibility of the extremes here, it's frightening how convincing it is. Hoffman and De Niro are fantastic.