Movie Review: Thank You for Smoking

There is a scene in Thank You for Smoking in which tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) meets Hollywood agent Jeff Megall (Rob Lowe) to discuss a plan to bring back smoking in the movies. They agree that they can't use a contemporary setting because people would be constantly asking the main characters why they smoke. Interesting then that no one smokes in Thank You for Smoking and I find myself asking why not.

Roger Ebert, intentionally or not, puts his finger on what makes me uneasy about Thank You for Smoking in his review of the film. He begins by calling it "a satire both savage and elegant" that "targets the pro-smoking lobby." Later, though, he says that "the target of the movie is not so much tobacco as lobbying in general, which along with advertising and spin-control makes a great many evils palatable to the population."

Director Jason Reitman assumes that his audience regards smoking as harmful and the smoking lobby as bad, an assumption represented by his inclusion of a clip from The Sands of Iwo Jima in which John Wayne survives the conquest of Iwo Jima only to light a cigarette and immediately get shot: cigarettes kill, plain and simple. Reitman reverses the roles of the Good Guys and the Bad Guys.

The smoking lobby, embodied by lobbyist Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) and Big Tobacco CEO Doak 'The Captain' Boykin (Robert Duvall) is portrayed sympathetically while its opponents, a Senator Finistirre (William H. Macy) who wants a skull-and-crossbones placed on every pack of cigarettes and a group of anti-smoking activists, are painted in a negative light. A scene between Naylor and The Captain is shot in warm, shadowy tones reminiscent of The Godfather. The Captain, a fatherly figure, explains the secret to making a perfect mint julep. This cuts to the harsh, bright lights of Finistirre's offices where he rebukes his assistant: "When you find a cancer boy he should be hopeless."

Article Author: A. Horbal

The author's name is Andrew Horbal. He blogs about film criticism at No More Marriages! and writes about film for Lucid Screening and PopMatters. He thanks you for your time and consideration.

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