Thank You For Smoking

Over the weekend I saw Thank You For Smoking. Based on a novel by Christopher Buckley, the first feature film from Jason Reitman, son of Ivan, it focuses on Nick Naylor, a lobbysist for the tobacco industry.

Aaron Eckhart is an actor I’ve liked since In The Company of Men. He plays the character as a good guy aware of his flaws. He never comes over as dislikeable no matter how much his actions may be.

It’s for this reason that you never feel that a syrupy redemption is on the cards. As easily could be in this type of film.

There is a strong support cast

It says a few things about debate and spin. There’s a nice scene where Naylor discusses with his son, what is the better flavour of ice cream – chocolate or vanilla. It’s a clever dissection of debate, as Naylor doesn’t prove that vanilla is the best flavour, but disproves that chocolate is.

There is a strong supporting cast with JK Simmons, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy and a hilarious Rob Lowe as a Japanese obsessed movie producer.

It’s a solid satire, well worth seeing.

I’ve just discovered that Eckhart will play Sgt. Lee Blanchard in the film of The Black Dahlia. I posted a rant about this production a while ago. However this changes my stance on it as Eclkhart was one of the actors I always said could play that role. (The others being Russell Crowe and Eric Bana). In an ideal world I would have Edward Norton as Bucky Bleichert.