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Review

Imagine the sharp political commentary of Syriana and the biting critique of the media in Good Night and Good Luck done for laughs and the result might be very much like the savage satire presented in Thank You for Smoking. Jason Reitman (son of Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman) makes his directorial debut with this hilarious adaptation of the novel by Christopher Buckley (son of William F. Buckley). Aaron Eckhart shines as Nick Naylor, lobbyist extraordinaire for the tobacco industry, a master of spin, persuasion and exploiter of “flexible morals” who comes to question his place in the world and even develop the beginnings of a conscience. Plot, however, is almost excusably secondary in world of satire and this film is more concerned with what it is about on a general ideological level and less what it is about on a specific, narrative level. The great joy of Thank You… is that there are ample opportunities for everyone – Democrats, Republicans, special interest groups, Hollywood and the media – to look really, really bad and the excellent supporting cast – from Rob Lowe and Katie Holmes to Robert Duvall and William H. Macy - do not let any of these opportunities slip away. If Big Tobacco seems like too easy a target, that's because it is too easy a target; to look so specifically for an industry to skewer is to miss the point of the film: It is not the things that are being lobbied for that is the problem, it is the process of lobbying itself that has turned it into a bloated, dangerous industry.

 -- David Greenberg