First-time feature director Jason “Son of Ivan” Reitman’s surname is misspelled on the cover of the press notes for his hilarious satire, “Thank You for Smoking.” It’s a safe bet that won’t happen again — and if it does, the offending publicist will get smoked — because young Retiman … er, Reitman, is poised to become a big-time filmmaker. Based on Christopher Buckley’s 1994 novel, “Smoking” the movie gleefully fires away at the modern “culture of spin” capable of producing the likes of Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhardt in his best role to date), the smooth-talking, lady-killing, conscience-wanting face of Big Tobacco.
Naylor’s job is to increase cigarette sales while thwarting anti-smoking efforts such as the one mounted by opportunistic Vermont senator Ortolan Finistirre (William H. Macy) to have a “skull and crossbone” warning label affixed to every pack of smokes. Naylor’s attempts to make smoking “sexy” again brings him to Los Angeles, where he and a Hollywood super-agent played by Rob Lowe hatch a plan to have Big Tobacco finance a futuristic film starring Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones as space-bound smokers. His mission is compromised by his relationship with his impressionable 12-year-old son (Cameron Bright), an affair with a conniving investigative reporter (Katie Holmes), a death threat issued by a militant anti-smoking group, and a run-in with the cancer-stricken original Marlboro Man (Sam Elliott). Conventional morality is inverted with gut-busting effectiveness, as the usual suspects become the heroes. Some of the film’s most wickedly funny moments occur during Naylor’s regular get-togethers with Polly (Maria Bello) and Bobby Jay (“Anchorman” alum David Koechner), lobbyists for alcohol and gun manufacturers, respectively, who collectively refer to themselves as the “MOD Squad” (Merchants of Death).
As Naylor tells us at film’s end, “Michael Jordan plays basketball, Charles Manson kills people, I talk … everyone has a talent.” He may as well have added, “Jason Reitman makes damn funny movies.” (Rated R. Running time: 92 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 17, 2006. Read the original PDF.