Thank You For Smoking

Thank You For Smoking is the film that Lord of War probably wanted to be. That is to say, we’re supposed to empathise with the lead character despite him having a, frankly, despicable job. And you know, you do.
But let’s step back a second. Aaron Eckhart plays Nick Naylor, one of the most prominant public faces for Big Tobacco. He’s a lobbyist. It’s his job to defend smoking. With smoking being vanquished from more and more places, Nick is tasked with making it more popular. He quickly decides that getting cigarettes smoked by cool Hollywood stars in films is the perfect way to get the job done (Rob Lowe has a great role as an agent).
This film is a comedy by the way. A black comedy.
Along the way, Naylor also has to pay-off the Marlboro man who’s dying of cancer – two of whom have died of cancer in real life.
A great little film that doesn’t get preachy. As I say, despite his job, you do have sympathy for Naylor, yet the ending is believable and isn’t what you might think it’s going to be when you sit down at the beginning.
Finally, a word about the opening credits. Long gone are the days of Saul Bass or Maurice Binder. But here, we have a fabulous concoction of 50s cigarette packets, with the main players’ names reproduced in the style of big brands (the graphics are just far away from the real thing to avoid lawsuits, one suspects). Marvellous.