Posted: 03/26/2006

Thank You for Smoking

(2006)

by Doc Pedrolie

This film comes with a lot of excess baggage. Not only does the story hang on a hero that’s about as unlikely but, when you stop to think about it, as potentially unlikable as a hero gets. It’s also a long rumored project that shuffled around Hollywood for ten years, never quite finding its feet, until now.

Then there’s the pedigree, or rather junior pedigree, behind the film. It’s adapted from a popular satirical novel of the same name. The author is Christopher Buckley. Yes, the son of syndicated political columnist William F Buckley. Doing the adapting and directing is Jason Reitman. Yes, the son of Ivan Reitman, director of more comedic hits than we have time to get into right now.

Add to that the buzz generated by a back room, hotly contested bidding war for rights to the film at the Toronto Film Festival last fall; and the “missing” Katie Holmes sex scene (it’s not that much of a scene) at the Sundance screening of the film this winter that made national headlines. All in all, it’s almost too much for a quick-witted satirical farce about a tobacco lobbyist to live down.

Luckily, Jason Reitman assembled a fine cast of supporting players and Aaron Eckhart turns in one of the better performances of his career, in a role tailor made for him. Then there’s the script - witty and succinct in every facet of its story, it’s the true star of Thank You For Smoking.

In the film, Aaron Eckhart stars as Nick Naylor, the “face” of big tobacco. Naylor’s a cunning spin doctor with all the right moves and a thousand watt smile to match He glides through the opening scenes, casually manipulating public opinion in his favor without a hint of conscience. His actions would be downright villainous, if it weren’t for the buffoonish naysayers at odds with him at every turn. Naylor’s charm is persistent. He grabs hold of the story and easily becomes a classic anti-hero – a guy you know you should hate, but can’t help rooting for.

The particulars of Thank You For Smoking are fairly straightforward. Nick Naylor appears on a talk show to spin doctor anti-smoking sentiment. He meets with other lobbyists from the liquor and gun industries for lunch – the so-called “Merchants of Death”. He appears at his son’s school for career day and spins future anti-smoking opinion among the school kids. Naylor’s sent on several errands by his big tobacco bosses. The errands are by equal turns hilarious and dark. He seduces an investigative journalist who seeks him out for a story. In other words, these are just the days of Nick Naylor’s life.

What makes these moments in the story sing, though, are the actors enlisted to play the characters that populate those days. In particular, Robert Duvall gives a fabulous performance as an aging captain of the tobacco industry. Rob Lowe and Adam Brody are hilarious as a Hollywood Super Agent and his Assistant. William H. Macy plays the antagonist in a pitch perfect performance as an uptight Vermont senator Ortolan Finistirre. The only misfire is Katie Holmes as the investigative reporter. Her role provides function to the story, but doesn’t come to life, storywise, in the process.

Writer-Director Jason Reitman adaptation of Christopher Buckley’s story wisely adds depth in one area – the sweet relationship between Nick Naylor and his son, Joey (Played by Cameron Bright – Running Scared, Birth). Joey appears as a character in the Buckley novel, but Reitman chooses to make Nick and Joey’s relationship the emotional center of the film. Through Joey, Nick’s able to see the good and bad of who he is and what he does. This humanizes Nick in the end. It makes all the satire of the film that much more sharp. It also allows Nick to face off against Macy’s Senator Finistirre in the climax as a lobbyist fully in tune with who he is, what he does and why he does it. In other words, in touch with his heart.

Ultimately that’s what Thank You For Smoking’s about - finding the heart in what you do in life, even if its something unpleasant. Though the film lacks some of those laugh out loud moments that the various pedigrees and big buzz initially promised, it does craft this thought, and an excellent dose of humanity, into its astute satire. Because of this Thank You For Smoking holds more than its own against all of its high expectations and delivers that rarest of Hollywood films – the thinking man’s comedy with a heart.

Doc Pedrolie is a film critic and filmmaker in Chicago.

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