Thank You for Smoking

So I went and saw Thank You for Smoking today. It's based on the book of the same title written by Christopher Buckley who is son to the famed William F. Buckley, Jr. I read and heard many things about this film being funny and witty and the like. It was amusing and I had a few good chuckles, but it wasn't so funny that I bust a gut. Ok, so my expectations were raised too high. No big deal.

Anyway, Jason Reitman did a very good job in directing this feature. He kept the pace moving well and did not try to hit you over the head with any view of cigarettes being bad. As someone wrote on imdb.com, he wasn't heavy handed with anything. Aaron Eckhart did a very good job of portraying the slimy lobbyist while keeping him sympathetic at the same time.

We've been conditioned by the mainstream media to believe that cigarettes and especially "big tobacco" is evil. That's for you to decide. What was refreshing is that the anti-smoking Senator from Vermont, played by William H. Macy, was portrayed in the same satirical light as the tobacco lobbyist. At least they were brave enough to label the Senator as a Democrat. Because only in the real world would the Democrats be out to get any sort of tobacco industry. In other words, he was not portrayed as some sort of idealistic hero out to protect little Bobby and Suzy.

This is one of those movies that is entertaining but really only needs one viewing. If you feel like spending two hours at the movies for some light entertainment, then by all means this will fulfill that void. If, on the other hand, you'd rather just wait for the dvd release, then that's ok too.