Thank You for Smoking

In the wickedly humorous and smartly poignant Thank You for Smoking – (son of Ghostbusters director Ivan) Jason Reitman’s satirical feature-length directorial debut, based on Christopher Buckley’s 1994 novel – Aaron Eckhart plays a sly tobacco industry lobbyist who oh-so effectively spins on behalf of cigarettes while trying to remain a role model for his 12-year-old son Joey (Birth’s Cameron Bright).

The star-making role calls for Eckhart to appear in just about every scene of Thank You for Smoking, and his presence is one that's both revelatory and most welcome.

How ever did Hollywood fail to sing Eckhart’s praises sooner in the same way that it is today baffles me.

Wasn’t he just the cat’s meow in such films as In the Company of Men, Erin Brockovich, and Possession? Trust me – he was, and he’s not too bad to look at, either.

More important, though, is the undeniable fact that Eckhart is a terrific actor. His comedic timing (on fine display in Smoking) is just as impressive as is his talent for conveying, with just one look, ruggedly smug son-of-a-bitch-ness (see Company of Men) or a hint of fear (also on display in Smoking).

Up until Thank You for Smoking, however, Eckhart hadn’t had the chance to really carry his own movie (his most memorable work is perhaps his truly supporting turn as Julia Roberts’ biker boyfriend in Brockovich).

Obviously, I’m an Eckhart fan, so enough about that.

Thank You for Smoking follows the travails of Eckhart’s Nick Naylor, the official mouthpiece for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, a cigarette-funded institute dedicated to the defense and promotion of smoking.

As it happens, though, Big Tobacco is under siege. Sales among target demographics are down, and an agenda-pushing, Birkenstocks-wearing Vermont senator (William H. Macy) wants a skull-and-bones warning label affixed to every cigarette pack. This is a problem, and it is up to Nick to solve it.

So, much like a superhero (it’s Smoke Man!), Nick must wily-charm and fast-talk his way out of trouble, and so, after a quick brainstorming session with like-minded people, he travels from Washington, D.C. to Hollywood to enlist the help of a studio mogul to product-place cigarettes in movies.

This is just one of the tactics Nick will employ to clean cigarettes’ toxic rep: another calls for him to go on a talk show and debunk the cigarettes-cause-cancer theory…vis-à-vis a lung cancer patient! There is nothing Nick won’t do for his job. He loves his job – someone has to do it, right?

He knows this, and he knows people who know this, too. People like two fellow "merchants of death," alcohol lobbyist Polly Bailey (A History of Violence’s Maria Bello) and firearms lobbyist Bobby Jay Bliss (Anchorman’s David Koechner), with whom he meets regularly for dinner.

Lobbying is starting to take its toll on Nick, though. While on route to Hollywood, Nick and Joey make a stop to pay a visit to a former Marlboro Man (Sam Elliott) who's dying of cancer. The meeting, which involves a subtle bribe overheard and asked about by his son, leaves Nick feeling something new: a job-related conscience pang.

It also doesn’t help that an ambitious reporter (played by Katie Holmes – in presumably her last pre-Tom Cruise role – with that determined Joey Potter look that served her well on TV's Dawson’s Creek but not here) is dead-set on uncovering the truth behind Nick Naylor.

Thank You for Smoking works because of Eckhart and an effective cast that also includes Rob Lowe, The O.C.’s Adam Brody, and Spider-Man’s J.K. Simmons, and also because the social commentary it makes isn’t preachy but rather easy and on the mark.

Once the smoke has settled, Nick sees what’s really important, and with any luck Thank You for Smoking will help you do just this and it will surely entertain you.

My Rating ***1/2

Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures.