Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
In a role he was destined to play ever since the world first spotted him in Neil LeBute¹s In the Company of Men nearly 10 years ago, Aaron Eckhart plays Nick Naylor, a tobacco lobbyist who can spin any situation in his favor. In an opening scene set during the filming of a talk show geared against smoking, Naylor not only makes the case that it would not be in Big Tobacco¹s best interest to kill its customers, but he also manages to get a fellow cancer-ridden guest to back his position.
Naylor¹s two closest friends are Polly Bailey (Maria Bello) and Bobby Jay Bliss (David Koechner), his respective counterparts in the alcohol and firearms arenas. They refer to themselves as the MOD (Merchants of Death) Squad, and their one-a-week power meals are flat out some of the best-written stuff I¹ve ever seen in a comedy. And the hits just keep on rolling.
We follow Naylor through every possible crisis an industry like tobacco can have. He must fend off such foes as: Congress (in the form of Sen. Finistirre, played by William H. Macy), which wants even stronger labels (in this case, a skull and crossbones sticker) on packs of cigarettes; the former Marlboro Man (Sam Elliott), who now has lung cancer and is threatening to become a spokesperson against smoking; and prying journalists like Heather Holloway (Katie Holmes), who want to portray Naylor as a money-hungry death monger. All the while, Naylor must keep his bosseshappy with his work by finding ways to promote smoking. His meeting with a Hollywood insider played by Rob Lowe is so outrageous (he wants to feature cigarettes in a new outer space, sci-fi adventure film) that it almost seems true. But Naylor¹s toughest audience is his impressionable son (Cameron Bright), who seems equal parts curious and disgusted with his father¹s behavior.
Eckhart glides through this film like he was on ice, rarely stopping to take a breath and always seven steps ahead of any foe. There even comes a time when his own downfall seems all but certain, and he still manages to save his ass. There are many fine performances in Thank You for Smoking, but the film belongs to Eckhart. This is one of those films that you almost wish would have had its release date pushed back so the Academy might remember Eckhart¹s performance come awards season. He¹s that good, and so is this film, which skewers both sides of the battle. With Sen. Finistirre coming from Vermont and heart disease being the number one killer of men in America, you can bet Vermont cheese is not spared from Naylor¹s precision attacks. This is a film in which you grow to like characters who, in real life, you assume you would utterly despise. That¹s the nature of the beast, and it¹s why this film is so perfect. All of you ³Daily Show²-watching hipsters, this is the film for you. I¹d almost forgotten what it looked like, but this is comedy with brains.
Capone
