My wife and I watched this satire last night. We both thought it was an excellent surprise. Aaron Eckhart’s performance alone sold the movie to its audience, and he was completely believeable as the “smartest guy in the room.” Mindy Marin did the casting for the film, and based on her previous work, one would expect her to match the roles with specific actors as well as she did. The great Robert Duvall, the jittery William Macy, the snake Rob Lowe, Sam Elliott, who’s so cool he makes Fonzie seem like Steve Urkel, and the very cute, but very annoying Katie Holmes were assembled to play the big-screen characters created in Christopher Buckley’s work.
I’d recommend seeing it if you haven’t. If you have, thoughts?
The title of the film is Thank You for Smoking, not Thank You for Not Smoking.
But this is a coincidence. My wife and I just watched it tonight on DVD. It’s very good. Really about lobbying, not tobacco. (And for the guy who in another thread thinks Roger Ebert doesn’t like comedies, this one rated 3.5 stars, almost a perfect score. )
I saw it when it came out, and I thought then that this was just about the best movie of 2006. I re-watched it last month, and I still feel the same way. In fact, I think it’s one of the best comedies of the last ten years. Great script and fine acting all around.
It was pretty good, IMO. I liked the scene in which he makes David Koechner and Maria Bello feel bad because their trades don’t kill as many consumers. Plus Maria Bello is smokin’ hot.
I just watched it Saturday night, and really enjoyed it. My favorite bits were the scenes with the MOD squad. Particularly the end, when they expand the group to include the nuclear, fast food and oil industries.
We have this on DVD. It is priceless. We pimp it out on all of our friends when they come over. (gasp ‘‘You *haven’t *seen TYFS? How can you go on living?!! By all means, watch.’’) They, inevitably end up loving it too.
I agree Eckhart’s character makes the film. The most oft-quoted phrase in our repertoire at home:
‘‘My Mommy says smoking is bad for you.’’
‘‘Is your Mommy a doctor, or maybe a scientist of some sort?’’
‘’…No…’’
‘‘Well, then it doesn’t sound like she’s a very reputable source, does it?’’
It’s a funny movie and Eckhart makes a good sleaze, but it lost some points with me because it’s not all current or new. They’re taking shots at the tobacco industry. Is there anybody who doesn’t think they’re pure evil? It’s a very safe target for satire, which takes some of the fun out of it.
It’s not really about the tobacco industry, but rather lobbyists. And with that one lobbyist who got into so much trouble in the news lately, I’d say it’s very topical.
Wow! I’m surprised that I’m the only one here (so far) who HATED this movie. Unfunny, obvious, embarassing. Very much like Christopher Buckley’s feeble attempts at humor in The New Yorker.
I didn’t like it either, and for the same reasons. The movie was devoid of subtlety, and Eckhart’s character’s meltdown after being fired was completely out of character, as he’d been portrayed up to that point in the movie.
And also, when Eckhart’s narration described Maria Bello’s work, we saw the cover of a magazine with the word “Burgandy” on it. It’s so easy to get little things like that right, but only when the director gives a shit.
Interesting point, but most of what happens in the movie is specific to the way the public sees the tobacco industry (like the phony science). If they’d made a comedy that was more about lobbying or about the stuff Jack Abramoff did - which would have been more about his sleazy relationship with politicians, not as much about lying to the public - it might have been more on point. I liked the cell phone/brain cancer joke at the end; even though I don’t think there’s a connection there I think they could have made a more daring movie if they’d focused on that.
I noticed that, too! The whole thing reminded me of another awful production, A Day without Mexicans. (I may not have the title just right). A shame, too, because they’re both important topics.
We have a Blockbuster Total Access account, which is very handy. Often on a Friday or Saturday evening, my hubby and I will take a stroll down to our local Blockbuster store (which fortunately for us is about two blocks away) and find a movie to watch. I try to take a pen and paper with me, because I invariably see movies there that I want to see that he’s not interested in. That’s how I came to rent Thank You For Smoking. We rented The Illusionist that night, and I came home and added TYFS, Snakes on a Plane, and The World’s Fastest Indian to my queue!
Thank You For Smoking could have benefited from more subtlety, but I liked it a lot anyway.
Hated it. Was ready to love it, but it just hit every wrong note for me. Unless it was being meta or something and all the on-the-nose dialogue was saying something about… something. Then again, I don’t really understand all the love for Little Miss Sunshine, either (though I could sit through that. Thank You was painful. And for once, I actually liked the child actor in the thing – all his lines just sucked.) Chalk it up to different strokes.
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