Thank You for Smoking
Written and directed by Jason Reitman
Rated R: for language and some sexual content
In writer/director Jason Reitman’s (son of writer/producer/director Ivan Reitman) debut feature-length film Thank You for Smoking, even the opening credits are clever. Using a graphic motif of traditional cigarette cartons, Reitman’s credit is accompanied with the words “Est’d 1977” which happens to be the young satirist’s year of birth.
Adapted to the screen from Christopher Buckley’s novel of the same name, the film is a wicked satire about spin control and Big Tobacco. Reitman’s script is fantastic, never apologizing for its main character’s motivations and always filling scenes with hilarious, deadpan dialogue (“We don't sell Tic Tacs, we sell cigarettes. And they're cool, available, and [character makes the universal hand signal for quote-un-quote] ‘addictive’. The job is almost done for us.”—“The great state of Vermont will not apologize for its cheese!”).
The main character is Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), the chief spokesman for cigarettes whose job it is to save the face of the most vile and hated corporation on the planet. His job is to talk, saying “Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everyone has a talent.” Nick at heart is actually a good guy. He has a son (played by Cameron Bright, one of the few great child actors out there) whom he tries to protect even while he is the spin doctor for Big Tobacco. The father-son dynamic in the film makes Nick’s character extremely likeable, making Thank You for Smoking more than just another comedy.
Eckhart’s performance is a big relief here. Having seen The Black Dahlia, I was worried that I may never like him as an actor again (his performance in that mess of a movie is all ridiculous anger and fake cocksure attitude). My worries were put to rest about five minutes into Thank You for Smoking. He carries the film, giving his best performance to date. Eckhart makes Nick Naylor a likeable guy, but the best part about the role—and his performance—is that Nick never apologizes for what he does (“my job requires a certain… moral flexibility”). He’s really good at what he does, and that’s that.
Eckhart also manages to be quite funny alongside a great, and also very funny, cast. Sam Elliot, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy, Rob Lowe, Katie Holmes (even she’s good here playing against type) and J.K. Simmons all breathe life into their characters, and Reitman manages to pools their collective talents in to roles that perfectly suit every actor. The appearances of Maria Bello (playing the head lobbyist for Alcohol) and David Koechner (lobbyist for guns) are also welcome, playing Naylor’s only real friends in the film—the three characters call themselves the M.O.D. (Merchants Of Death) Squad and meet frequently throughout the story to talk shop and compare things such as whose company kills more people on average a year.
The film’s plot follows Nick as he does two major things for his company. He develops a plan to have Hollywood begin making cigarettes cool again, by having the studios feature more smoking in their films similar to Hollywood’s golden age when it seemed like every character was smoking onscreen (“The message Hollywood needs to send out is ‘smoking is cool!’”). Also, Nick meets for an interview with journalist Heather Holloway (Holmes). She’s working on a story about Naylor, but he’s deceived by the idealistic reporter as she uncovers things about him he thought were off the record. Of course Heather uses sex to bang (pun intended) the information out of Nick, making her character every bit as despicable as the rest in the movie.
Along the way, Nick spends quality time with his kid, bringing him on a business trip in which he meets with a big time Hollywood player (Rob Lowe) to begin implementing his plan. This part in the film is extremely funny, as Reitman throws in a hilarious background sight gag involving some video of a killer whale eating seals and fills the scenes with more ingenious dialogue:
Reitman does a good job of not pounding any themes in to the viewers’ heads. He presents the material honestly without a whiff of too-clever-for-my-own-good attitude. The film has a nice visual look as well provided by director of photography Jim Whitaker (The Cooler). All of these parts help Thank You for Smoking rise above and become a great contemporary satire of spin control. It is extremely topical and relevant for today’s audiences who never know what to believe from the media.
Reitman even pulls a big, ironic trick out of his hat, one that you may not realize when watching Thank You for Smoking. Throughout the film’s briskly-paced 92 minute running time, not one character in the film smokes a cigarette. The closest we get to seeing someone light up is when Nick reaches for his pack of smokes only to find it empty, and Robert Duvall’s character holding an unlit cigar.
This film is smart, edgy and honest. Comedies just aren’t made this well nowadays, and rarely do we get a satire that is this pertinent to our current society. While there is no true message to the film, one could pull a kind of pseudo-significance from Nick’s speech to his kid’s schoolmates at career day:
HDFEST grading scale
-Thank You for Smoking-
Story B
Acting B+
Visuals B
Originality A-
Enjoyability A
Overall B
DVD Extras A-
(plenty to like here. Definitely get the widescreen version. The film looks and sounds great. Special features are plentiful with deleted scenes; commentary track from Reitman and the cast; a self-congratulatory but interesting interview from the Charlie Rose Show featuring Reitman, Eckhart, producer David O. Sacks and novel writer Christopher Buckley; two featurettes, one a making-of and the other titled America: Living in Spin that discusses the current climate of spin control in the country.)
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