DOWN IN FRONT: Thank You for Smoking

by Dan Dunkle

     “Thank You for Smoking” is a clever title for a movie that prides itself on being clever.

     Aaron Eckhart plays Nick Naylor, the voice of Big Tobacco in Washington, D.C. Naylor is a cocky, charming, baloney-artist paid to go on talk shows and before Congressional committees and get people who are arguing for tougher restrictions on smoking all turned around so that they don’t know what they’re arguing anymore.

     Within five minutes, Naylor has guys like environmentalist Sen. Ortolan K. Finistirre (William H. Macy) on the defensive even though you would think that arguing against the evils of tobacco would leave them on firm footing. At one point Naylor argues the Finistirre’s state, which prides itself on its cheese industry, is killing more people with cholesterol-rich cheese products than big tobacco.

     This job brings Naylor money, power and other perks. He seems to be enjoying himself immensely, even when he is taking his son to meet the former Marlboro man, now dying of lung cancer (Sam Elliott) and having to explain that his job requires “moral flexibility.”

     Naylor meets with the M.O.D. squad, which stands for Merchants of Death, for drinks. The M.O.D. squad includes lobbyists for alcohol and firearms.

     The movie, of course, isn’t really after tobacco, firearms or any other evil vice of this land. It has its satirical sights aimed at our gullible society where spin rules and the truth is hard to hear through all the media noise.

     The most evil character, probably, is reporter Heather Holloway played by Katie Holmes, who wants to write a profile of Naylor for “The Washington Probe.” Most of the time when Hollywood depicts reporters, they’re either pure sleaze (as in “Absence of Malice” or “Shattered Glass”) or saints (“All the President’s Men,” “Good Night and Good Luck”). Holmes is of the more sleazy variety, and that’s kind of predictable.

     I actually went to this despite Holmes. After months of seeing her and Tom Cruise grinning like maniacs on every magazine in the supermarket checkout line, I have to admit I could go the rest of my life without ever seeing her again.

     This isn’t a film about good, honest, hard-working Americans. It’s about how truly idiotic our culture can be.

     The best stuff in the film comes when Naylor meets with Hollywood super agent Jeff Megall (Rob Lowe in a particularly funny performance) and tries to work out a deal where movie stars will smoke more in movies. They start talking about having Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones smoking together in a science fiction movie set in a space station. Their challenge? Wouldn’t a cigarette blow up in an all-oxygen environment?

     This was a pretty funny movie. I enjoyed it, though I sometimes get tired of the “Gee, look how clever we are” self-congratulation that figures into films like this and “Wag the Dog.”