- Film Review
- Reviewed By Anna Richards
-
4 out of 5
The feature debut of writer/director Jason Reitman (son of Ghost Busters' Ivan) is a satire on the big businesses of smoking and spin doctoring that gleefully blasts away at unscrupulous lobbyists, hand-wringing liberals and most points in between. Aaron Eckhart plays our antihero Nick Naylor, a frighteningly convincing spokesman for Big Tobacco, who dubs himself a Merchant of Death. He even has a little MoDs club, comprising himself and representatives of the alcohol trade (Maria Bello) and firearms industry (David Koechner). Their jobs are not to protect humanity, but to ensure humanity's right to screw itself up. A smooth-talking swipe at amoral profiteering and knee-jerk nannyism, this comedy hits most of its targets with such artful elegance that it almost diffuses the impact. But there is great pleasure to be taken in its daring wit, excellent performances (Cameron Bright deserves special mention as Naylor's son, who idolises and, perhaps more devastatingly, understands his father) and refusal to play the Hollywood game.
Plot Summary
Satire based on the novel by Christopher Buckley, starring Aaron Eckhart. Smooth-talking lobbyist Nick Naylor arouses both admiration and resentment for his tireless efforts in promoting the tobacco industry. But life starts to get complicated when an anti-smoking senator wants to put the skull and crossbones symbol on cigarette packets, and Nick gets involved with a pushy journalist who's writing a profile about him.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Nick Naylor
- Aaron Eckhart
- Polly Bailey
- Maria Bello
- Joey Naylor
- Cameron Bright
- Jack
- Adam Brody
- Lorne Lutch
- Sam Elliott
- Heather Holloway
- Katie Holmes
- Bobby Jay Bliss
- David Koechner
- Jeff Megall
- Rob Lowe
- Senator Ortolan Finistirre
- William H Macy
- BR
- J K Simmons
- The Captain
- Robert Duvall
- Jill Naylor
- Kim Dickens
Crew
- Director
- Jason Reitman
- Share this episode
-