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Thank You for Smoking
Aaron Eckhart plays a tobacco lobbyist with a habit of winning arguments in this broad, entertaining satire of American big business and politics
"You know that guy who can pick up any girl? I'm him. On crack." So says Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), poster boy for the American tobacco industry and Capitol Hill's most charismatic lobbyist. Watching him work his magic, blowing smoke up the ass of the ordinary American, it's an easy claim to believe. Eckhart, whose granite-hewn features would fit snugly alongside Abe, Georgie and the boys on Mount Rushmore, is perfect as an amoral spin doctor in mid-1990s Washington. Combining the inscrutable hardness of his character in In The Company Of Men with some New Labour-ish soft edges, Eckhart's Naylor is a perversely likeable hero in this constantly entertaining satire. Jason Reitman's adaptation of Christopher Buckley's novel takes an equally cynical look at both sides of the political divide and lets the facts - reeled off with machine gun speed by Naylor's motormouth - speak for themselves. It's just a shame this film wasn't made years ago. Seven years since The Insider gave Big Tobacco a kicking in cinemas and 11 years since Peter Mandelson and Co. were introducing the British public to the term 'spin doctor', Thank You For Smoking is a satire well beyond its sell-by date. So it's something of a miracle that, in a year when Hollywood has dusted off its soapbox, this is one of 2006's best political movies. The reason is that it's damn funny. Reitman keeps things simple: he combines the best lines from Buckley's fiercely witty novel with a cast of great actors who relish each and every syllable. Beginning with Eckhart, and continuing with the likes of William H Macy, Maria Bello, JK Simmons, Sam Elliott and Robert Duvall, this film features every actor you love but won't see opening a blockbuster anytime soon. And just like the Virginia cancer peddlers, Reitman understands the allure of good packaging. From its opening credits, Thank You For Smoking is a visually satisfying experience. Director of photography James Whitaker, who framed Bello and Macy with such flair in The Cooler, manages several different styles. He successfully evokes the yellowing, olde-world majesty of tobacco magnate The Captain's (Duvall) clubland retreat, plus the concrete-and-stone stiffness of Washington DC. A trip to LA, where Naylor takes an excruciatingly funny meeting with Hollywood super-agent Jeff Megall (Lowe), is rendered in sunshine-bleached soullessness. Naylor's compatriots in the struggle to let every American kill himself as he sees fit are Polly Bailey (Bello) and Bobby Jay Bliss (Koechner), lobbyists for the alcohol and gun industries respectively. Together they form the caustically amusing MOD (Merchants Of Death) Squad, a group of friends that meets for lunch each day to compare mortality rates and spin strategy. Naylor ignores their advice when it comes to Heather Holloway (Holmes), an investigative reporter with "world class tits", who wants to know what makes him tick. Single dad Naylor employs his 'Yuppie Nuremberg Defence' ("everyone's got a mortgage to pay"), but soon lets his guard down enough to give Holloway the chance to crucify him in print. It's an attack that pleases Naylor's nemesis, Birkenstock-wearing senator Ortolan K Finistirre (Macy), a man whose ideals seem equally compromised in his ongoing public crusade against the tobacco industry. But Naylor, refusing to be defeated, decides to face Finistirre's congressional hearing at the film's finale. "My 'Mr Smith Goes To Washington' moment", Naylor calls it. "More like 'Oli North Goes To Washington'" says Koechner. It's in this final confrontation that Thank You For Smoking really proves its political mettle. Naylor must face the question of whether he'd allow his own son to smoke. It's a decision that brings his two selves - loving father and amoral spin merchant - into direct conflict at last. His choice satisfies the classically American libertarian agenda of personal freedom without completely betraying the leftist nannyism of the anti-smoking lobby. This might leave some feeling deprived of a neat ending, but Reitman's consistent refusal to fight an obvious political corner is what gives Thank You For Smoking its edge and its many laughs. Verdict A procession of memorable comic one-liners and some stylish production mean that the subject matter's lack of prescience is quickly forgotten. Eckhart and the rest of the cast are superb. |
