Breane decides nothing short of a war can keep this out of the news and he knows just the person to stage that war: Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman).
Barry Levinson's ultra black comedy was very on the nose at time of release. The concept of the "dead cat" hadn't entered the mainstream but there were definitely some suspicious timings around US actions abroad and inconvenient domestic events in the 90s.
Nowadays, like Idiocracy, it is uncomfortable to watch when people have recently died in the name of media spectacle and there might actually be international conflict purely to suit the whims of the current PotUS.
The war here very much only exists on television and in rumour and speculation but even so I winced a bit. There are patriotic songs, "crisis actors", merchandise, astroturfed symbolic gestures and staged photo opportunities.
It's well crafted: De Niro and Hoffman bounce off each other in bursts of motormouth creativity as they stride from limo to studio to private plane, endlessly with Heche steering people off screen over her mobile phone.
Good fun but like I say it hits differently now 8/10.