AmateurMovieReviews.com

Rating: * * * * (Out of 5)

Thank You for Smoking is witty; it is entertaining; and it flows briskly. Jason Reitman's directorial debut film has all the qualities of a good comedy. However, it lacks the bite to be considered a good satire. It moves just a tad too briskly to rob the viewer the time to ponder the implications of the film's messages. But it is a good effort for a first time writer/director. If nothing else, the wonderfully written protagonist of the film is enough to hold your attention for the entire hour and a half of its running time.

It is never easy to create a hero that the audience sympathizes with, especially one that is a spokesman for tobacco companies, one who has "flexible morals", and one who belongs to a group that proudly calls themselves the "Merchants of Death", basically the most despised man in America. Nick Naylor (played by Aaron Eckhart) is all of those things. Yet, the character is so charming and persuasive that you just cannot help but to feel for him. Nick is a lobbyist. As he tells us, Michael Jordan plays ball; Charles Manson kills; he talks. If he takes a one of those career choices questionnaires, it would probably point him to the direction of a lobbyist, because he is simply very good at it. He is the vice-president of the fictional Institute of Tobacco Research, which is funded by the tobacco companies. So naturally, the institute's purpose is to release research results that favor the tobacco companies. Nick would then spin the results, not as truth, as he knows truth is not important, but as "freedom of choice" since that is always correct.

The film is also about Nick's relationship with his son, who lives with his mother. When Nick has the idea to put smoking back in movies, and on his way to Hollywood to meet with super agent, Jeff Megall (played by Rob Lowe), he takes his son along. It is funny to see that Jeff is even more Nick than Nick, and a Hollywood agent works just the same way as a tobacco lobbyist. We get to see that Nick is not such a bad guy after all, his morals might be a bit off, but he genuinely cares about his son.

Opposing Nick is Senator of Vermont, Ortolan Finistirre (played by William H Macy), who proposes to put a "Poison" sticker on cigarette packets. On top of that, an anti-cigarette group threatens to kidnap and kill Nick. In the middle of all that, there is a conniving journalist, Heather Holloway (played by Katie Holmes) who complicates matter even more for Nick.

Even though I was entertained by Thank You for Smoking, I found myself wanting more than just simple entertainment. Mr. Reitman's film could have dug a little bit deeper into the interesting question of the ethics of capitalism, and its implications of our society. To take a cue from the great satires, such as Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, or any of Luis Bunuel's films, it is not enough to simply present an absurd (although in this film, the idea is really not that absurd) moral, it is necessary to support it with sharp social criticism. This is where I think Thank You for Smoking falls short. It is a good film, but it could have been a great film.


A Room 9 Entertainment presentation of a David O. Sacks production in association with Content Film. Produced by David O. Sacks. Executive producers, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Max Levchin, Mark Woolway, Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt, Alessandro Camon, Michael Beugg. Co-producers, Daniel Brunt, Daniel Dubiecki, Mindy Marin, Michael R. Newman. Co-executive producer, David J. Bloomfield. Directed, written by Jason Reitman, based on the novel by Christopher Buckley. Running time: 92 minutes. Nick Naylor - Aaron Eckhart; Polly Bailey - Maria Bello; Joey Naylor - Cameron Bright; Jack - Adam Brody; Lorne Lutch - Sam Elliott; Heather Holloway - Katie Holmes; Bobby Jay Bliss - David Koechner; Jeff Megall - Rob Lowe; Sen. Ortolan Finistirre - William H. Macy; BR - J.K. Simmons; The Captain - Robert Duvall; Jill Naylor - Kim Dickens; Pearl - Connie Ray; Ron Goode - Todd Louiso