Review : Thank You For Smoking

Year Released : 2006

Director : Jason Reitman

Cast : Aaron Eckhart, Katie Holmes, William H Macy and J.K. Simmons

Long before he gained the role he is best known for (Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight) Aaron Eckhart starred in a dark comedy about a man who works as a tobacco lobbyist.

Eckhart plays Nick Naylor, a guy who lives by the motto "if you argue correctly then you are never wrong." His job is to convince people that smoking cigarettes is a good thing, or at least not as bad as it is made out to be in the media. He has to fight people from every angle, including anti-tobacco campaigners, right up to the Senator of Vermont (Macy) and his ex-wife, who is determined to not have him get their son involved in the same industry.

There aren't many films based on booked that are actually any good. Chuck Palahniuk's "Fight Club" is probably my favourite book-to-film conversion, but this comes a very close second. It is very sharply written and the cast do a fantastic job with their characters, even the normally intolerably bland Katie Holmes doesn't ruin it. With a sensitive subject at the heart of the film, Thank You For Smoking is one of those films that the doesn't really deal with being politically incorrect, and in one of the opening scenes the Senator refers to a young cancer patient who failed to help him win an argument as "cancer boy."

I can't recall a movie that has been as quotable as this since the aforementioned Fight Club, with constant references to serial killers, the yuppie culture, cancer and of course, the cigarette industry, but all in a satirical sense, and although the odd statement could be deemed as offensive, it's nice to see a film that isn't afraid to be a little politically incorrect and subtlety (and unsubtley on occasions) offend people.

Despite being a black comedy, there are some excellently hilarious parts of the film, including a phrase that sticks in my head and makes me chuckle occasionally, afterall, how can you forget "The great state of Vermont will not apologise for it's cheese".

The stand out star though has to be Eckhart. He doesn't have your typical " movie star" look to him and therefore portrays the very business minded Naylor perfectly. There are numerous times during the film where, despite initially appearing to be invincible, Naylor has to realise that he might not be as strong as he thoughts, and it is played superbly by Eckhart.

My one criticism of the film really is that there are a few characters that get far too much screen times, and whilst obviously it helps the story along, there are several characters where you actually look at their character and part in the movie and realise that you could have easily left them out. On the flip side there are characters who you want to see more of, such as the other two characters in the "Merchants of Death Squad" (lobbyists from the alcohol and firearms industries), who could definitely have been in it more and explore their defending of their relative industries.

Overall "Thank You For Smoking" is a thoroughly enjoyable film and at 92 minutes is about the right length for a film of this type. It's one of those films that you can watch numerous times and learn something new each time, and that's the type of film everyone loves.

So just to end this review, I demand an explanation Senator......