Based on a novel by Christopher Buckley, first published in 1994, this satirical film tells the story of a tobacco lobbyist from a wonderful (if slightly non-PC) perspective.
In short, the film focuses on the character Nick Nayler (played by Aaron Eckhart) as he goes through all the trials and tribulations of not only his job as a tobacco lobbyist, but also the problems this brings into his life when he tries to portray himself as a role model to his son.
From the outset the laughs are continuous, so much so that I had tears streaming down my face at more than one point in the film. The beauty of its laughs is the fact that it’s quite tongue-in-cheek satirical humour. It doesn’t overdo it, and nor does it depend on farcical humour to make the audience chuckle. The result—some of the best genuine slightly-non-PC-but-light-hearted laughs to grace the cinema in a long time. Some wonderful lines have been spawned such as “Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everyone has to be good at something” said by our main character, which no doubt you’ll hear again.
Everything in this film just flawlessly flows together, from the lines delivered by every character to the pace of the film itself. I particularly liked the MOD squad meetings (Merchants of Death) whereby our tobacco lobbyist along with an alcohol and a guns lobbyist meet for dinner.
It makes you think. Everyone has to “pay the mortgage” somehow and someone’s got to do their job. You even find yourself liking and agreeing with our spin doctor extraordinaire for the tobacco trade pretty much from the outset!
Part of its charm certainly is the fact the humour feels so light-hearted. It portrays a story, but it does so without any sort of prejudice or moral standing, leaving us therefore free to chuckle along at the whole slightly non PCness of it all without even a stab of guilt.
Hats off to the casting director too. Some magnificent casting—it’s nice not to see your seemingly obligatory Brad Pitt or Orlando “I'm so pretty” Bloom cast just for the eye candy. My only small gripe was Katie Holmes part as the reporter who has to write an article on Nick. I felt she let the side down a bit, but then again this is only a personal opinion and it may well be to do with the fact that she wasn’t
bad as such … just that everyone else was better.
Definitely one to see if you get the chance as it seems to be one of those rare cinematic gems that’s likely to get overlooked on general release.
Thank You for Smoking is out now on general release
Certificate 15
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427944/
