Thank You for Smoking

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.