Thank You for Smoking: 2006, dir. Jason Reitman. Seen April 16 (Alamo South Lamar).
Thank You for Smoking isn’t as satirical and biting as one might imagine from the publicity; it didn’t make me stop and think about politics, the advertising industry, or American culture. It’s a lightweight smart comedy with sharp dialogue and a capable cast. And I am a total sucker for a smart comedy film, even if it’s shallow and obvious at times.
Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is a top lobbyist for the tobacco industry — he’s able to spin any situation into his favor. His latest venture is a campaign to convince Hollywood that cigarettes could be a lucrative source of product placement. He wants to bond more with his son Joey, so he takes him along on the trip to Hollywood. It turns out that not everyone falls for his charismatic act, however, and he ends up facing trouble from a number of different fronts, including an anti-smoking politician and an ambitious reporter.
Eckhart is perfect in the lead role: a charming “yuppie Mephistophales” with whom we actually can empathize. You can’t help laughing at the way in which he manages to extricate himself from sticky situations. He’s surrounded by some fabulous supporting actors: Rob Lowe as a Hollywood agent trying to brainstorm cigarette scenes in space, J.K. Simmons as Naylor’s boss, and William H. Macy as a Wisconsin politician determined to ban smoking and punish the tobacco industry. Robert Duvall and Sam Elliott turn up for small yet significant roles. Cameron Bright, the young actor whom I enjoyed in the underrated Running Scared, works well as Naylor’s son.
Only Katie Holmes seems not to fit in as Heather Holloway, the scheming reporter who gives Naylor a run for his money. I don’t think this is entirely Holmes’ fault, although her acting is unremarkable. The banter in her scenes with Naylor falls a little flat. I didn’t feel like her character’s story arc made sense, perhaps because I once worked as a reporter myself. In real life, editors would never publish the story she writes, not to mention that she’s awfully young to have landed a job at a prestigious publication in a big city. Besides, in real life an ambitious journalist who looks like Holmes would have been aiming for TV and not print journalism.
Other aspects of the storyline don’t make much sense either, like the kidnapping, but the story moves so quickly and with such humor that it hardly seems to matter. I haven’t read Christopher Buckley’s novel, so I don’t know how faithful the movie is to the source. Thank You for Smoking is consistently funny: the Merchants of Death cocktail hour, Simmons’ meetings, Eckhart’s lecture to his son’s class, and even Macy’s footwear. A few scenes are weak and lame, but for the most part the movie sustains its comic tone quite well. I look forward to first-time director Jason Reitman’s next project, and hope he’ll stay with comedy material.