Thank You for Smoking
U.S.A. 2005

Opening 31 Aug 2006

Directed by: Jason Reitman
Writing credits: Jason Reitman, Christopher Buckley
Principal actors: Aaron Eckhart, William H. Macy, Katie Holmes

Jason Reitman’s satire about a tobacco lobbyist’s downfall and resurrection in Washington D.C. is fresh and witty. We all know that smoking is bad for you, even the tall, dark and handsome Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) in the job he was born to do—head lobbyist for the forces of nicotine. We watch him and cheer for him as he keeps the world safe for tobacco despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary. He has our vote no matter what he is selling. Week after week we relish his regular lunches with the other two MODs “merchants of death”: Maria Bello and David Koechner, his comrades in arms as spin doctors for alcohol and firearms. Nick has his heart in the right place and he knows what is “right,” but the way he sees it, he does not get paid to do what is right; his job is to do the best with the skills, looks, and stuff he’s got and to make sure that his son grows up knowing how to ask questions. William H. Macy is hilarious as Nick’s nemesis – the dowdy but ambitious senator from Vermont with an amazing collection of maple syrup bottles on his desk. Katie Holmes is the cute girl reporter/unbridled careerist who brings Nick’s life crashing down only because he gets blindsided by hormones. All in all a thoroughly entertaining film. (Rita Pearson Schwandt)