Western Courier

Issue date: 10/6/06 Section: The Edge

Thank You For Smoking
Grade: A


He doesn't have an M.D. or law degree - he has a bachelor's degree of kicking ass and taking names. This man is the face of cigarettes, the Colonel Sanders of nicotine.

Nick Naylor (Aaron Ekhart) is that man, and he talks on the behalf of an industry that kills 1,200 men, women and children a day.

Most would be hard-pressed to view him as the lead role the audience is supposed to root for because of his association with the tobacco industry alone.

Most view him as an immoral character that just wants to pay a mortgage, but perhaps that is the genius behind "Thank You for Smoking."

So how does a story that is suppose to make smoking look like a joke begin? With a talk show and our hero Naylor sitting on stage alongside the president of "Mothers Against Teen Smoking," the chairwoman of "The Lung Association," the government's top aide of Health and Human Services and a teenager who is titled "Cancer Boy."

There is a lineup of people who just love to hate Naylor.

Yet he is able to talk his way out of this seemingly volatile environment, win over the audience and make the aide of Health and Human Services take the heat.

The story is filled with extremely wild dialogue that has political satire, which gives alternative views to controversial topics.

Putting these controversial topics and stereotypes into characters such as the MOD Squad (Merchants of Death), which consists of Polly Bailey (Maria Bello), who works for the Moderation Counsel of Alcohol, Bobby Jay Bliss (David Koechner), who works for S.A.F.E.T.Y. (Society for Advancement of Firearms and Effective Training of Youth) and Naylor.

Together they talk about and compare which of their professions kill more people and generate the most controversy.

The name of this hilarious movie may lead many to think that the movie is strictly about smoking in America. However, the message of the movie extends beyond the issue of whether or not to smoke.

It illustrates how the media and politics bend and twist information to further goals and ambitions.

"Thank You for Smoking," despite its humor in relation to smoking, is one of those movies that you really just can't forget and is a movie worth renting and even buying.

-Derek Palmer
Edge staff

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