Reviews

Thank You For Smoking

 “America is living in spin”.  A more perfect tagline could not have been written for this film.  Thank You For Smoking is a biting and extremely funny satire focused on the tobacco industry, based on the 1994 novel written By Christopher Buckley.  This is also the debut film of Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman. 
           
The film focuses on Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), a Big Tobacco spin-doctor.  Nick is basically bereft of any morality when it comes to selling his trade.  Eckhart, who is better known for the indie masterpiece “In The Company of Men”, is spot on as the morally bankrupt death merchant.
           
At the open of the film he is being attacked on a daytime talk show by anti-cigarette enthusiasts and still comes off clean due to his “won’t back down” attitude and the idea that there is no argument he can’t win.  It is this scene and many others that make Nick so watch able and almost likeable. 

To get things rolling, Nick comes up with an idea to sell more cigarettes and make them cool again, put them back in the movies.  From here Nick gets involved in one hilarious situation after another. 

The first task is to sell his idea to Hollywood.  It is here that Nick meets someone even he looks up to, uber film producer Jeff Megall (Rob Lowe).  Jeff and Nick brainstorm over how to get cigarettes in films and keep America smoking.  It is both funny and sad to see two soulless men come up with a so-stupid-it’s-brilliant way to both include smoking into a big budget film and also market specialty cigarettes for said film.

From here things get even trickier for Nick as he is receiving death threats, faces a tough anti-smoking Vermont senator (played masterfully by William H. Macy) and is actually caught off guard by a cub reporter played by Katie Holmes, who actually makes life uncomfortable for Nick for about five minutes.  All the while the devilish smirk never leaves his face.

The only time we actually see a shred of humanity is when Nick is dealing with his son Joey (Cameron Bright).  Nick does want the best for his son and to remain a role model for Joey, to which great results occur.  Joey shows off his chops in more ways than one (thanks to Nick’s guidance) that he may very well fall into Nick’s footsteps and fill those designer shoes very well.  Even when we see Nick at his lowest, most defeated point it is his Satan-in-training son that pulls him out of the gutter and we truly see Joey’s character truly round out.

Besides Joey, the only other friends Nick has are the Merchants of Death, The M.O.D. Squad if you will.  Maria Bello plays an alcohol lobbyist and (Saturday Night Live alum) Dave Koechner rounds out the deadly trio as a firearms rep.  Once you see Nick together with these two you see some truly masterful casting.  Bello plays the sultry and sexy role, where as Koechner plays the beef eating, redneck moron that follows his trade; the imagery alone encompasses the spin that these merchants deal in. 

Aside from the aforementioned stars the film also features Robert Duvall, J.K. Simmons, Amy Adams and Sam Elliott.

Thank You For Smoking is by far one of the finest and funniest satires in recent history.  While this may not be a perfect film, and in some opinions not the best representation of the book, it is a strong debut for a young filmmaker, who I hope has more films of this caliber to come, and features some outstanding performances.

8.5/10

George

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