Thank You For Smoking, Aaron Eckhart, William H. Macy, Cameron Bright, Katie Holmes, JK Simmons; dir. Jason Reitman
Yes, the director here is the son of Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Meatballs), and Reitman the Younger appears to be aiming for satire rather than slapstick. The movie is based on a novel by Christopher Buckley, son of conservative (or libertarian) icon William F. Buckley, Jr., so there’s an interesting thing here about the Sons of American Icons, about Hollywood meets Deep Thought. America is living in spin, and our hero (or antihero) is the sultan of spin, the lord of lobbyists. Nick Naylor is the voice of America’s tobacco industry, and he’s damned good at his job. The opening scene lays it all out—he appears on the Joan Lunden show as an apologist for the tobacco industry; he immediately charms a boy dying of lung cancer (caused, of course, by smoking) and he makes a promise that he really doesn’t have the power to keep. He justifies his job, to his son, with an explanation based on flexible ethics; and here’s where the film fails: Is it satire of the industry of spin, of Big Tobacco, or is it a story of a man coming to grips with his relationship with his estranged son? There are numerous entertaining scenes and memorable moments (which I won’t share here for fear of ruining anyone’s enjoyment of the film), and Aaron Eckhart oozes charm, breathing life into this character, drawing us into his world just as he repulses us. So like the film, my review is disjointed: Watch it, but don’t expect a fully functioning, unified piece of work.
13 comments:
Thank You for Smoking is very well made in general, certainly relevant; i appreciate the fact that it gets into a lot more than just the morality of smoking
Patrick: I agree. What do you think was good about it? Do you think that it succeeds in ways I (apparently) don't perceive? ; )
I personally enjoyed Thank You for Smoking a lot. One of my favorite themes in the movie is how Nick feels about his job. True, throughout most of the Film he seems to have no problems with the damage he knows big tobacco is doing to the world. (The M.O.D Squad scenes in particular show how he can make a competition out of the suffering of others.)
And yet in the scene where he is sent to give an old Marlboro cowboy $100,000 dollars, you can almost see the self disgust being brought to light as the cowboy hacks and wheezes his way through the scene. To me, a good film is layered with different elements: Humor, sadness, excitement, etc...
Thank You for Smoking is in my opinion an excellent piece of work.
I agree it was a well made movie in general. It gets you thinking about the morals of smoking companies.
From what you have wrote about the movie, it makes me want to watch the film. I'm curious to see how big tobacco company spokesmen really act.
Mr.B is the man. You make this movie sound funny(haha). I haven't seen it myself, but I will have to see it.
To me it sounds like a movie where tobacco companies try and make themselves not seem so bad. By trying to justify taking another life with their poisons. Elise says i need 1 more sentence so here it is.
Straight Pipe, I think you're missing the point of the word "satire." This movie was made by someone who has nothing to do with the tobacco companies to poke fun at it. Similar to the way that the movie "W." doesn't look like it will be supporting Bush.
At Straight,
Interestingly enough thats not at all what the movie is about. Plot wise its about someone who works for a tobacco company and their life, their charm and family. Its a satire, demonstrating that the companies really are rather backhanded.But its also demonstrating that the people that experience the company and its workers are just people. Its about opinions formed about something before its been experienced, about how people act inherently and human bonds.
At Tyler,
This movie is a great parody of a real big tobacco lobbyist, however if you are looking for something real than this isn't the movie for you. Not to say this movie doesn't provide any thought provoking ideas about big tobacco. The only thing is this is a blatant spoof and if big tobacco was really like how they are portrayed in this film, than that is a scary thought.
good movie dont know how they pulled it off. Did this one come up different? Like my screen name?
I think that Thank you for Smoking is good for the cigarette companies. It is great publicity yet doesn't MAKE people smoke.
that movie was great, what i though was cool in that movie was when he was kidnapped and had all those nicotine patches put on him and the only reason he didn't die is cause he was a smoker.
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