While I was in Boston, J and I watched Thank You For Smoking, mostly because he was astounded I had never seen it.There's lots of social commentary I could make about this movie, but frankly, I'm not in the mood. All I'll say is that it's interesting that I watched this the same week as the cover story on The Economist is "America's Blame Game." I haven't read the whole issue yet, so I'll reserve comment about the columns therein, but it seems like a perfect ancillary subject to go along with this movie, wherein Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) just changes the game by blaming someone or something else all the time. There are, in fact, a couple of great scenes, especially the one where he's with his son, that he actually deconstructs the nature of his smooth-talking tactics, and it's fascinating. Best part of the movie. Except maybe where he outs the journalist (played by Katie Holmes) who outed him.
Bottom line: All that and more. But, on a totally non-social level, it's funny stuff. Deadpan, witty, amusing.
What a remarkable and insightful film for the most part, and certainly one the best of the last decade. I loosely base my life on Nick Naylor. Is there any guy that you hate to love more the him? Such a great role for Eckhart. Exceedingly satirical, witty, and prescient, the film does suffer from a stable flow to the narrative and arc, but Jason Reitman nails so much with it in other regards. I would say it is one of the few examples of where the screenplay and cinematic execution usurp the story and structure of the book. The thorough excoriation of the constant culture of spin; the assault on liberal hypocrisy, paternalism, and nany-statism; bomb-shelling of Hollywood; the mercenary nature of protagonist’s industry; along with and the under girding cynicism of what drives regulation in our society are what make this film enduring. It really torches everyone and deconstructs so many perceived sacred cows in interesting ways that it has very high rewatch value, which is hard with recent films for the most part.
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