Thank You For Smoking does two things in particular- it shows it's writer/director, Jason Reitman (son of Ivan), should have a good career ahead of him, with this being a promising debut; it also shows how casting decisions do make up then crucial framework for a film like this, where its ensemble form needs the right people. The satire comes in the form of it's lead character, a lobbyist for Tobacco (Aaron Eckhardt, one of his better performances), who has a crises in the midst of a reporter's investigation (Katie Holmes), his own son, and in dealings with a super movie agent (Rob Lowe, one of his very best roles), and even the old Marlboro man (Sam Elliot). His main opponent, from the cheese-head mainstay state of Vermont, is played by William H. Macy in another key role- if there's one thing this man can play it's smarmy and antagonistic, while seeming very professional (i.e. Fargo). It's with this parallel of the two sides of varying hypocrisies, of the tobacco's side and the fervent anti-tobacco side, that Reitman loads his guns, not to mention with the alcohol and tobacco sides represented as the guy's friends (there scenes in the restaurant are some of the funniest in the film).
If there is a problem, at least for me, with the film in the overall is that as much as a satire can be clever and have aims, it's needs to balance out its comedy with its storytelling. After the first twenty minutes of the film, which contain some really big laughs (if not by the actors, i.e. JK Simmons, then by the cool style of Reitman's), it goes into its story, and becomes more or less in the realm of being entertaining, but not necessarily as funny as it should or could be. In a way this is one of those films I admire more so for having me grin at a lot of what's going on, and that the shots at the societal tennis match of the tobacco issue do work. There's nothing per-say I can say that should dissuade you from seeing it, and it could very likely become a comedy cult favorite along the lines of the Christopher Guest films (albeit a different sort of cultural satire). That it's less than great though when it becomes sincere, and that the sincerity isn't as matched up with its clever side, is more of an observation than a stone-cold criticism. After all, it's hard to turn down a film that features Lowe in a kimono on a sleep-only-on-Sunday schedule. B+
If there is a problem, at least for me, with the film in the overall is that as much as a satire can be clever and have aims, it's needs to balance out its comedy with its storytelling. After the first twenty minutes of the film, which contain some really big laughs (if not by the actors, i.e. JK Simmons, then by the cool style of Reitman's), it goes into its story, and becomes more or less in the realm of being entertaining, but not necessarily as funny as it should or could be. In a way this is one of those films I admire more so for having me grin at a lot of what's going on, and that the shots at the societal tennis match of the tobacco issue do work. There's nothing per-say I can say that should dissuade you from seeing it, and it could very likely become a comedy cult favorite along the lines of the Christopher Guest films (albeit a different sort of cultural satire). That it's less than great though when it becomes sincere, and that the sincerity isn't as matched up with its clever side, is more of an observation than a stone-cold criticism. After all, it's hard to turn down a film that features Lowe in a kimono on a sleep-only-on-Sunday schedule. B+