Title: Thank You for Smoking
Genre: Comedy
Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Katie Holmes, William H. Macy,
Robert Duvall…
Director: Jason Reitman
Release: (2005)
My friend, I know you didn’t come here to be told what to do, but rather, to be given a little quick and honest elaboration about your options. And, as a man who respects your time as if it were my own, I’m gonna do just what I can to help you. Now if it were anyone else, you know it probably wouldn’t take much for me to paint you a picture of can’t miss comedy that could charm your ticket money out of your pocket twice and make you want to offer up a tip. If you were just anyone else. But, just between us, we both know that that kind of penny-ant shell game is for sharks and marks. And I’m not a shark, and you sure as hell aren’t a mark, right? So let’s just start with the understanding that, hey, you’ll see it if you want to see it, and I’m just here to help if you want it. If you’re the only one at your office on the outside of the inside jokes about this film, it’ll be because it’s where you wanted to be, right?
You like that? Pretty smooth, huh? Misdirection, passive-aggressive manipulation, the wink and a smile charm, I learned it all from Aaron Eckhart’s silky-smooth portrayal of big tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor in Jason Reitman’s Thank You for Smoking. Naylor’s dashingly clever charm is projected by Reitman onto the whole landscape of this film, the result being a fast-paced, quick-witted, smile-jerker of a movie that might even be masking a piercing message about the nature of American political and corporate culture somewhere along the way. The cast includes solid comedic turns by A-minus listers such as William H. Macy, Rob Lowe and Robert Duvall, as well as a surprisingly bearable performance by Katie Holmes. In the end, Thank You for Smoking does a very nice job of pulling off the impressive and rare genre combination of a light-hearted, bright, dark comedy – and it feels like maybe the quickest 92 minutes you’ll ever sit through.
But, like I said, you know what you’re looking for better than me, right chief? You want to see a stinker and feel like you got ripped off, you’ll see a stinker and feel like you got ripped off. You want to finish a movie feeling like you got your money’s worth and a little something extra to boot, hell, no one’s gotta tell a player like you what to rent for that. Am I right?
Grading
Story: A -
Acting: A -
Visuals: B
Originality/Innovation: B
Enjoyability: A
DVD Extras: B
Overall: B+/A-
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