Thank You for Smoking is a 2006 Golden Globe Award-nominated comedy-drama film satire directed by Jason Reitman and produced by David O. Sacks. It is based on the 1994 novel of the same name by Christopher Buckley. The title is based on the popular saying "Thank You for Not Smoking".

Nick Naylor is the Vice President of and the chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, a tobacco lobby whose stated purpose is to research the links between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer. Unsurprisingly, the group, funded by cigarette companies, does not find any link between the two. Nick's job requires him to inform the public of these results, as well as defend the rights of smokers. The film follows his career as a talking head for Big Tobacco, appearing in both public speaking engagements and on television programs. Each week, Nick meets with Polly Bailey and Bobby Jay Bliss, lobbyists for the alcohol and firearms industries respectively, for lunch and mutual support. The three jokingly refer to themselves as "the M.O.D. Squad" (alluding to both the phrase "Merchants Of Death" and the television show The Mod Squad).

I felt that the theoretical trailer was too short, so I made my own...check it out.

Faced with a bill to add a skull and crossbones to all cigarette packaging, Nick proposes an idea to his boss, BR to get actors in films to start smoking on screen again as in the 1920s and 1930s, and thus "put the sex back in cigarettes". B.R sends him to Hollywood to meet with superagent Jeff Megall and arrange product placement. Nick elects to bring his son, Joey, on the sudden conviction that they do not spend enough time together since Joey's mother gained custody. As Joey asks about the details of Nick's job during the trip, they bond as Nick teaches him the art of spin.

The movie was directed by Jason Reitman, now 29, who warmed up by making short subjects. What's remarkable in his first feature is his control of tone; instead of careening from one target to the next, he brings a certain detached logic to his method.Nick manages to know what to say and how to say it. What makes Naylor such a brilliant character, and this is very much to Eckhart's credit, is that you're fully aware what he's doing is pretty much reprehensible. However, you go along with him. By the end of the movie, you're actually rooting for him. The man can talk.

Reitman's screenplay is based on a novel by Christopher Buckley (son of William F.), and retains a literary flavor, that is usually transparent in a time when so many current movies are aimed at people who move their lips while they're thinking. Don't know what I mean? Lemme explain, with this exchange between Nick and his young son, who wants help on a school assignment:

Joey: "Dad, why is the American government the best government?"

Nick: "Because of our endless appeals system."

Or, example #2, this nostalgia by Duvall, who plays the Captain (the head of the Tobacco industry): "I was in Korea shooting Chinese in 1952. Now they're our best customers. Next time we won't have to shoot so many of them."

As I mentioned earlier, this is Eckhart's film. He is ably supported by a seasoned cast, including William H Macy, Robert Duvall, J.K. Simmons, Rob Lowe, Maria Bello, David Koechner, Sam Elliott, Rob Lowe, and even Katie Holmes, who manages to hold her own (much like her turn in the recent Batman film). But they're sole purpose is to support Eckhart, who's on screen for almost every second. And he holds his own. Watch him as he turns a talk show crowd who hate him into some sympathetic folk who can't wait to hear what he says next. Then watch as he ably slips into his son's class for career day, to dispense valuable life lessons. He owns every scene, and you can't take your eyes off him. The cast is terrific, but without Eckhart, this film would fall apart like a house of cards.


Everything about this film worked for me. The tone, the pacing, the acting (you might have guessed I liked Aaron Eckhart), the cinematography, the score, everything.It's a well done film, and well worth your time and money. And it keeps you from smoking for 90 minutes. Far more effective than any of those obnoxious Truth.com ads on the TV these days. Thank You For Smoking is very funny, and quite intelligent, which is pretty much more than expected when you go to a movie these days.