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Life & Arts

Muddled 'Smoking' offers few laughs

Satire runs with heavy cast, wages attack on Big Tobacco

by AMY PEREZ
The Daily Cougar

Long before family sitcoms and the latest reality shows were interrupted by the Phillip-Morris financed "truth" commercials, and a wannabe hip, animated duck invaded Saturday morning cartoons to read off all the household cleaning agents found in cigarettes, there was such a thing as a glamorous, sexy cigarette smoker. 

Aside from the masses who agree with anti-smoking campaigns like "truth" and the annoying duck, some people may argue that smoking cigarettes is still glamorous and sexy today. Or, in the case of Aaron Eckhart's character Nick Naylor in Thank You for Smoking, some simply twist the truth about the adverse effects of cigarettes in order to pay the mortgage.

Naylor, a lobbyist for big tobacco, makes up one-third of the "Merchants of Death," or "MOD Squad," a team of spokespeople who meet weekly to compare death tolls in the tobacco, alcohol and gun industries. 

Each member of the squad has a knack for casting morality aside and spinning the facts, but as viewers see early on, Naylor does it best — and he's got the highest death toll to show for it.

The satire opens with an episode of the Joan Lunden Show about the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes. Appearing amid a panel of guests — including a 15-year-old boy recovering from lung cancer — and an audience who all share the same anti-smoking sentiment, Naylor unabashedly proclaims that he would much rather see the young, "cancer boy" live and continue smoking than die. Though this is a shock to viewers at first, Naylor adds a few smooth quips and has the audience applauding soon afterward.

But the real issue at hand in Thank You may have little to do with smoking cigarettes. 

As the divorced Naylor begins to take a more active role with his son Joey (Cameron Bright), the normally unconcerned lobbyist begins to question how he could possibly not feel guilty about convincing more people to smoke and waging phony million-dollar anti-smoking campaigns. Adding to this minor dilemma is the pesky Senator Ortolan Finistirre (William H. Macy), who has long since waged a war on the tobacco industry.

Eckhart plays the fresh-faced master of rhetoric well, but at times sounds more like a college writing coach than big tobacco swindler. 

Luckily, between jokes about how the masses are so easily swayed by the media and how multi-billion dollar industries could care less, the movie is peppered with a few B-list actors worth looking out for. 

Rob Lowe plays entertainment mastermind Jeff Megall, whose plot to simultaneously release a movie and new brand of cigarettes is so over-the-top it could probably rake in some cash in today's box office. 

And Katie Holmes, normally typecast for sweet, girl-next-door roles, plays scheming reporter Heather Holloway -- too bad she only curses twice.

Thank You for Smoking

Rated: R
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Katie Holmes
Verdict: Although funny, you'll deserve a smoke break halfway through.

dcshobiz@mail.uh.edu
 

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