‘Smoking’ an excellent satire

“Thank You for Smoking” is a movie you would never hear of in Milledgeville unless you eventually strolled by it at the local video store.

This movie is proof that humor can derive even in smoking cigarettes. The movie, released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, is currently being shown in metro-Atlanta and will continue to branch off to other theaters later on. The star of the film is an actor you may not recognize by his name, but once you see his face you will find yourself saying “oh yeah, its that guy!”

His name is Aaron Eckhart, and he has starred in various supporting roles in such films as “Any Given Sunday,” “Erin Brockovitch,” “The Pledge” and “Paycheck.” He has only had a couple stabs at playing the leading man and none of them have succeeded at the box office (“Suspect Zero” and “The Core”). Yet, in this picture he carries the entire film on his shoulders amazingly.

Eckhart plays a lobbyist for the tobacco industry, Nick Naylor, who speaks out on why people should continue to buy cigarettes, while also trying to be a role model for his 12 year-old son played by Cameron Bright (“Running Scared,” “Birth, Godsend”)

The whole plot of the movie is to show what Nick does in his day-to-day job as a lobbyist for something that most people hate, and thus hate him for it. Also, a senator from Wisconsin (William H. Macy, who starred in “The Cooler,” “Boogie Nights,” “Seabiscuit”) wants to place a large poison label on every pack of cigarettes to let the American people know the danger of smoking.

This movie seems to be one joke after another, with a great supporting cast of actors such as Katie Holmes (“Batman Begins”), Maria Bello (“The Cooler,” “History of Violence”), Robert Duvall (you take your pick), and Sam Elliot (“The Big Lebowski,” “The Hulk”). If you are a fan of satires, then this movie is definitely for you. I am not exactly on the board of the Academy, but I personally believe that this is Eckhart’s role that for actors only seems to come once or twice in a lifetime, unless you are Denzel Washington or Russell Crowe.

The film is directed by Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman (most famously known for directing both Ghostbusters movies), and is kept at a nice upbeat pace to match its comedy/satire. The running time of the movie is 92 minutes, and deserves an R rating for the language and sexual content, but if that kind of stuff doesn’t bother you, then check out this film, and I feel sorry for you if you don’t enjoy this film. I give it 5 out of 5 paws, and be sure to check your local listings and Internet show times because “Thank You for Smoking” is coming to Macon this weekend.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 14 2006. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry