Thank You for Smoking

January 25, 2007

Rated: R Runtime: 92 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Thank You for Smoking is a much smarter comedy than I expected, and it’s also not as preachy as I thought it would be. In fact, it’s not really preachy at all.

Thank You for Smoking Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the lead lobbyist for Big Tobacco and he loves his job. Born to argue, Nick is at his best when asked to defend the losing side of an argument and considering his job, he gets to do that a lot. For example, on a daytime talk show with himself, a teenager dying from cancer (who used to smoke), and a couple of other people from anti-smoking groups he manages to make the point that the anti-smokers would rather the teenager die so that he can be a statistic to be used against the tobacco companies, while Big Tobacco would rather keep a customer alive.

When a Senator introduces a bill to put a skull & crossbones graphic on each pack of cigarettes, it’s time for Nick to get to work. First up, he heads to Hollywood to make a deal for a few “good guy” characters to smoke on screen since recently it seems only the bad guys are lighting up their Camels. Next, it’s time to shut up the Marlboro Man who has recently been hitting the talk show circuit talking trash about tobacco since he’s dying of lung cancer.

In the midst of dealing with these issues, Nick is also trying to be a role model to his 12-yr old son. No, he doesn’t want him to smoke but he does want him to think critically about what he’s told. That’s the real message in this movie, to think about what you hear everyday and make your own decisions instead of just trusting *anyone* to always tell you the truth.

This is a very wordy movie, very wordy indeed. No explosions, no car chases, no T&A, but a lot of smart dialogue. Keep that in mind if you watch it.. if you’re a bit tired and cranking this puppy up at midnight, you might wake up with drool all over the leather. Head in with a clear head (or at least some coffee) and I think you’ll enjoy it.

On a side note, watching the deleted scenes will demonstrate how powerful the editor of a movie is. Had they left some of the later scenes as originally filmed I would have dropped at least 2 stars from the rating. As it is, it earns 4 stars for entertaining me, surprising me, and being much smarter than I expected.

Posted by John | Filed Under 4 Stars, Aaron Eckhart, Cameron Bright, Comedy, DVD, Drama, R, Rob Lowe, Sam Elliot, William H. Macy