Product Description

WARNING: Thank You For Smoking "just might make you laugh your head off!" (MAXIM). Aaron Eckhart stars as Nick Naylor, a sexy, charismatic spin-doctor for Big Tobacco who'll fight to protect America's right to smoke -- even if it kills him -- while still remaining a role model for his 12-year old son. When he incurs the wrath of a senator (William H. Macy) bent on snuffing out cigarettes, Nick's powers of "filtering the truth" will be put to the test. As Nick says, "If you want an easy job, go work for the Red Cross."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7405 in DVD
• Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
• Released on: 2006-10-03
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 91 minutes

Features

• WARNING: Thank You For Smoking "just might make you laugh your head off!" (MAXIM). Aaron Eckhart stars as Nick Naylor, a sexy, charismatic spin-doctor for Big Tobacco who'll fight to protect America's right to smoke -- even if it kills him -- while still remaining a role model for his 12-year old son. When he incurs the wrath of a senator (William H. Macy) bent on snuffing out cigarettes,

Amazon.com
As the saying goes, Aaron Eckhart was born to play Nick Naylor, the 30-something "voice of Big Tobacco" in this brazen satire of corporate profits and what lobbyists will do to protect them. Right from the opening, Eckhart is in spin mode, turning the tables on a popular talk show when he states health officials want a young teen stricken by cancer to die more than big tobacco does, since the boy would be a martyr to them, but only a single lost customer to the industry. Audiences gasp, panelists guffaw, and the kid happily shakes Nick's hand. The Academy of Tobacco Studies has a colorful array of folks surrounding Nick, including his cantankerous boss (J.K. Simmons) and the Colonel (Robert Duvall), tobacco's undisputed leader. His closet friends are lobbyists for guns (David Koechner) and alcohol (Maria Bello) who discuss their odd businesses over regular lunches, but when a cutie-pie reporter (Katie Holmes) swings into Nick's life, things begin to unravel. Based on Christopher Buckley's even more outlandish novel, Thank You for Smoking is a bright light for the filmgoer tired of gutless films formulated by committee, and first-time filmmaker Jason Reitman has expertly cast the film, which includes deft turns by William H. Macy and Sam Elliot. Nick's son, a throwaway in the novel, becomes a major influence here in Nick's development and a key student of Naylorisms such as, "If you argue correctly, then you're never wrong," though a father and son trip to Hollywood to visit an uber agent (Rob Lowe at his most suave) demonstrates how the inclusion of the son both helps and hurts the film. Book fans will miss the wicked plot turn, but the final result is a sharp and smart comedy deserving of a long, savory drag. --Doug Thomas

Amazon.com
The DVD bonus material is fairly standard, including two commentary tracks (one with director Reitman and another with Reitman and cast members Eckhart and Koechner), about a dozen deleted scenes (with optional commentary) and a couple of featurettes. Among the latter, the "making of" piece is little more than a Valentine from the cast and crew to themselves, in which they explain what the movie's about but not how it was made; an excerpt from TV's The Charlie Rose Show, with Reitman, Eckhart, author Christopher Buckley, and producer David Sachs does much better job of that. Meanwhile, the five-minute "Living in Spin" featurette is fairly pointless, insofar as it does the very thing it's criticizing (Reitman's comment that "This is not a movie about cigarettes, it's a movie about talking" is nothing if not spin). Separate galleries featuring posters, other artwork, and storyboards for the film are interesting, though. --Sam Graham

From The New Yorker
Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), the chief spokesman for the tobacco lobby in Washington, is handsome and likable, a mixture of swagger and impudent candor. Nick knows that his arguments in favor of smoking are rubbish, but he enjoys the game of spin too much to give it up. This shrewdly entertaining satirical comedy, adapted by Jason Reitman (son of the veteran director Ivan Reitman) from Christopher Buckley's 1994 novel, loves the brazen moxie of "sin" lobbyists without being fooled by them. The comic highlight of the movie is the regular lunch sessions that Nick holds with the lobbyists for the alcohol and firearms industries (Maria Bello and David Koechner)—the three of them, boasting of the lethality of their respective clients, might be doing a recurring skit on "Saturday Night Live." When Nick gets written up by a seductive reporter (Katie Holmes) from the Washington Probe, his life goes into a tailspin. With Cameron Bright as Nick's adoring son, J. K. Simmons and Robert Duvall as tobacco executives, Rob Lowe and Adam Brody as glib Hollywood types, and William H. Macy as a sanctimonious anti-smoking senator from Vermont who has a collection of maple-syrup bottles in his office. Jason Reitman's direction is fast-moving and witty; the movie is a winner.
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

excellent satire
Thank You For Smoking is one of those few dark comedies that truly had me laughing all the way; and I can't remember how long it's been since I laughed so much watching a movie! The lines are funny; the acting is convincing and the movie manages to make a great point about "spin" (aka bulls***) in today's world.

The action begins with tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) appearing on a talk show to put a spin on the fact the smoking causes cancer. Nick, smirking all the way, says that the tobacco companies want a boy with cancer to live so they could keep another customer. Nick argues further that health officials would love to see the young "cancer boy" die so their budgets would be fatter. This is just the tip of the iceberg, folks; Nick goes through his whole life putting a spin on tobacco to make it seem safe, romantic and glorious.

Nick's partners in crime include two people he meets for lunch from time to time; and they call themselves "The Mod Squad." Look for great performances by Maria Bello as Polly Bailey and David Koechner as Bobby Jay Bliss who work for the alcohol and gun lobbies respectively. Nick's slave driving boss, B.R. (J.K. Simmons) puts in a great performance and the head honcho of the tobacco group, simply referred to as "Captain," is played wonderfully by Robert Duvall.

Nick's personal life isn't peachy--he's separated from his wife. When a seductive female reporter Heather Holloway (Katie Holmes) gets the real scoop on Nick's secrets and lets it all out in a tell-all article in a prominent Washington, D.C. newspaper, Nick's world comes crashing down around him.

Will Nick be able to bounce back from the negative publicity he gets? Will he keep his friends and his job? What will his young, impressionable son Joey (Cameron Bright) think of him when the whole truth comes out? Watch the movie to find out these answers and more, folks--there are no spoilers here!

The DVD comes with a plethora of extras. We get an interview with Aaron Eckhart and others on The Charlie Rose Show; there are quite a few deleted scenes with optional director's commentary; there's a brief "making of" featurette; a director and cast commentary; storyboard and more! I am very impressed.

Overall, I would highly recommend Thank You For Smoking for people who enjoy indie movies that are really funny and try to playfully make a point at the same time. You'll notice that no one in the film is ever filmed smoking a cigarette! However, this is not a family movie; there is a fair amount of swearing and there are some violent scenes that could upset small children. (The kidnapping scene is one of them; but I won't say much more to save the juicy plot for you.)

Now THAT'S what I call a great flick!

(Mostly) Lighthearted satire, with great results.
To be brief, Thank You for Smoking is one of my favorite movies in recent years. It's witty and smart without being a movie that you need to set out too much time for, given that its runtime is a mere 92 minutes.

While it is brief and inviting to pick up and watch, it does have a serious touch of satire in it, providing a critique of modern day society's overall standards and morals. In one scene in particular Nick Naylor, the main character, talks to his son in a way that makes his job appear even noble, while protecting corporations that claim thousands of lives each year.

Overall, without getting too technical: at LEAST rent this if you like satires, but if you enjoy sarcastic wit and humor, the odds are in favor of a purchase.

WOW!!! A major motion picture that is both funny and smart...
I tend to be hard on a lot of major motion pictures because, to be frank, they mostly suck. However, this only turned into a "major motion picture" after Fox Searchlight bought it after it's screening at the Sundance Film Festival. Before that it was the vision of fledgling director Jason Reitman to independently bring Christopher Buckley's tremendously smart and funny book of the same name to the screen... and he does a good job. There's a reason why this film is loaded with the (mostly unpaid or underpaid) who's who of Hollywood talent. The script and screenplay are that good. This is not the typical low-brow, fart-joke riden crap you're used to seeing out of Hollywood. There are good acting performances throughout as well. If you are a person of above average wit and have a dry sense of humor, you'll like it.