Thank You For Smoking
From AwardAnnals
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| Director(s) | Jason Reitman |
|---|---|
| Distributor | 20th Century Fox |
| Honors | |
| Aaron Eckhart stars as Nick Naylor, a sexy, charismatic spin-doctor for Big Tobacco who’ll fight to protect America’s right to smoke—even if it kills him—while still remaining a role model for his 12-year old son. When he incurs the wrath of a senator bent on snuffing out cigarettes, Nick’s powers of “filtering the truth” will be put to the test. As Nick says, “If you want an easy job, go work for the Red Cross.” | |
WARNING: Thank You For Smoking “just might make you laugh your head off!” (Maxim).
Aaron Eckhart stars as Nick Naylor, a sexy, charismatic spin-doctor for Big Tobacco who’ll fight to protect America’s right to smoke—even if it kills him—while still remaining a role model for his 12-year old son. When he incurs the wrath of a senator (William H. Macy) bent on snuffing out cigarettes, Nick’s powers of “filtering the truth” will be put to the test. As Nick says, “If you want an easy job, go work for the Red Cross.”
Honors
Reviews
Amazon.com
As the saying goes, Aaron Eckhart was born to play Nick Naylor, the 30-something “voice of Big Tobacco” in this brazen satire of corporate profits and what lobbyists will do to protect them. Right from the opening, Eckhart is in spin mode, turning the tables on a popular talk show when he states health officials want a young teen stricken by cancer to die more than big tobacco does, since the boy would be a martyr to them, but only a single lost customer to the industry. Audiences gasp, panelists guffaw, and the kid happily shakes Nick’s hand. The Academy of Tobacco Studies has a colorful array of folks surrounding Nick, including his cantankerous boss (J.K. Simmons) and the Colonel (Robert Duvall), tobacco’s undisputed leader. His closet friends are lobbyists for guns (David Koechner) and alcohol (Maria Bello) who discuss their odd businesses over regular lunches, but when a cutie-pie reporter (Katie Holmes) swings into Nick’s life, things begin to unravel. Based on Christopher Buckley’s even more outlandish novel, Thank You for Smoking is a bright light for the filmgoer tired of gutless films formulated by committee, and first-time filmmaker Jason Reitman has expertly cast the film, which includes deft turns by William H. Macy and Sam Elliot. Nick’s son, a throwaway in the novel, becomes a major influence here in Nick’s development and a key student of Naylorisms such as, “If you argue correctly, then you’re never wrong,” though a father and son trip to Hollywood to visit an uber agent (Rob Lowe at his most suave) demonstrates how the inclusion of the son both helps and hurts the film. Book fans will miss the wicked plot turn, but the final result is a sharp and smart comedy deserving of a long, savory drag. —Doug Thomas
Barnes & Noble
Christopher Buckley’s savagely funny satirical novel about an amoral lobbyist has been brilliantly adapted to the screen by writer-director Jason Reitman, son of comedy producer-director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters). Aaron Eckhart portrays Nick Naylor, an indefatigable advocate for Big Tobacco who routinely makes fools of the feckless media types and arrogant politicians opposing his clients. Nick loves bragging about his latest maneuvers to his fellow lobbyists (Maria Bello and David Koechner) while alternately attempting to be a role model to his precocious 12-year-old son (Cameron Bright). His effectiveness, however, is considerably diminished when an ambitious reporter (Katie Holmes) uses her feminine wiles to extract inside information from him. What’s most effective about Buckley’s novel—and this reasonably faithful screen version—is that there’s no clearly definable line separating the good guys from the bad guys; both Nick and his opponents are depicted as being equally venal and opportunistic. Refreshingly free of crude humor and related vulgarities, Thank You for Smoking is smart, witty, and delightfully ironic from first frame to last, and for that we are thankful. Ed Hulse
