Thank You For Smoking

Getting out of work early on Good Friday, I took in Thank You For Smoking, which I found to be an almost entirely enjoyable film. It is the story of Nick Naylor, a tobacco lobbyist, and it is a testament to the writing and direction of Jason Reitman and the performance of Aaron Eckhart that our "hero" manages to be both charming and likeable, despite his holding a job that, in the words of Woody Allen, "is a notch below child molester." Naylor is the kind of guy who can talk his way out of anything, and there's a certain satisfaction in watching someone like that at work, perhaps because most of wish we could do that.

Reitman is clearly influenced by directors like Alexander Payne and the Coen Brothers. He employs lots of tricks like subtitles, freeze frames, and the like, which serve to hammer home the humor. I like this kind of stuff, because it makes a film richer. It doesn't work in all instances, but here it does. I also like the use of music, from the opening credits set to an old country number called "Smoke that Cigarette" to the closing credits with The Kingston Trio's "Greenback Dollar," which I've been humming all weekend.

I didn't even mind Katie Holmes performance. Boy, I used to think she was so adorable, but now, can anyone watch her on screen and not think, "She needs deprogramming"?