Common Sense Note
Parents should know the film includes frequent use of the f-word (over 20 times). Lobbyists discuss their devious tactics and corrupt employers (firearms, alcohol, and Big Tobacco), comparing death tolls, diseases (fetal alcohol syndrome, cancer), and gruesome inspirations (the gun lobbyist was moved by the shootings at Kent State). Nick is kidnapped and covered with nicotine patches, landing in the hospital. Characters do not smoke on screen, but they do drink occasionally. Characters discuss sex and lust using slang; one sex scene. A primary theme suggests that lobbying is a form of lying to sell product and ideas.
Families can discuss Nick's relationship with his son Joey: How does the son challenge his dad's thinking? How does his admiration of his father make Nick question himself? How does the Marlboro Man serve as a kind of father figure for Nick, who sees in him a victim of the product he pitches?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
Not so clever as it seems to be, THANK YOU FOR SMOKING is about a lobbyist, these days considered one of the lower life forms in Washington DC. Employed by Big Tobacco (here called the Academy of Tobacco Studies), Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) spends his time arguing for "choice." "You have to think for yourself," he says, arguing that even if cigarettes are toxic, they're not illegal, so it's up to the individual whether to smoke them.
Based on Christopher Buckley's popular novel, the movie doesn't exactly condemn or admire Nick. But it does question his nihilism, in part through his son, Joey (Cameron Bright), adoring and inquisitive, whose big-eyed reaction shots underline that Nick has responsibilities, beyond the job. Visiting Joey's class on "What Do You Do?" day, he explains that just because your mother says cigarettes are bad for you doesn't mean you have to take her non-expert word for it. You have to "think for yourself," he says, knowingly. "You have to challenge authority."
The film's smartest scenes involve Nick's meetings with fellow lobbyists, working for alcohol (Polly [Maria Bello]) and firearms (Bobby Jay Bliss [David Koechner]). They call themselves the M.O.D. Squad (Merchants of Death), and spend their lunchtimes drinking in a red leather booth at Bert's, comparing notes and numbers of deaths with regard to their hurtful, well-paying jobs. When Polly suggests that fetal alcohol syndrome is a most difficult hurdle for someone in their line of work, the other two agree -- it's hard to make a case for booze when it's destroying little baby brain cells.
The M.O.D. Squad's honesty provides sharp contrast with film's other fall guys (and they are legion): the skuzzy Hollywood producer (Rob Lowe) who does business with the "Hitler of the South Pacific" as easily as he agrees to include cigarettes and smoking in his next SF movie (at least until the political winds blow against the lobby); righteous Senator Finistirre (William H. Macy) who seeks to make tobacco pay; and the Captain (Robert Duvall), the tobacco magnate who depends on Nick to ensure his access to mint juleps and black waiters with white gloves. Whether callous or dumb or egotistical, these stereotypes offer no new insights, just easy targets.
Nick's revelation -- and he must have one -- begins when he meets the debilitated, lung-cancerous Marlboro Man Lorne Lutch (Sam Elliott). Nick is supposed to convince him to give up his threat to out tobacco's malicious intents. And Nick's talking gets him into trouble with Washington Post reporter Heather Holloway (Katie Holmes), because he blabs crucial secrets (you'd think he'd be smarter).
While Nick thinks for a minute he wants to raise up Joey in his own image, when he starts to doubt the moral relativism of his soulless arguments, the relationship changes. "If you argue correctly," he tells Joey, "you're never wrong." Nick's a great talker, Thank You submits, but he's not right.
Families who like this movie might also like other dark comedies, like the cleverer Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, as well as Gross Pointe Blank, or George Clooney's tv series, K Street.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentSex scene, though shots frame bodies discreetly; multiple uses of the f-word to mean sexual activity. |
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ViolenceBobby Jay's childhood flashback shows him with a firearm (he also describes his inspiration to support the NRA was hearing about the Kent State shootings; he wanted to be able to "shoot students"); TV image shows baby seal killed by whale; Sands of Iwo Jima scene shows John Wayne shot; Nick violently kidnapped and assaulted with nicotine patches. |
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LanguageFrequent use of the f-word (over 20 instances); multiple s-words, as well as "crotch," "ass," "assh--e," "damn," and "hell," and several slang references to male genitals and female body parts. |
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Social BehaviorLobbyist defends his job as "talking for a living," arguing that he is only encouraging people to "think for themselves," but he is selling smoking; other members of the MOD squad discuss their selling of alcohol and firearms, noting the numbers who die from use of these products; senators are corrupt, as are the tobacco executives, and the reporter sleeps with Nick to get her story. |
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CommercialismMajor theme is advertising (as lobbying is a form of spin and contributes to advertising); Coke; Vermont state products (syrup, cheese); mentions of Red Bull, Marlboro Man, Kool cigarettes, MSNBC, Ford cars, Newsweek, Washington Post. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoThough all about the cigarette industry and lobbying, the film shows no smoking; characters drink in restaurant; the senator keeps liquor in his desk; the captain drinks mint juleps; jokey references to drugs (crack, Colombian dealer); Nick is hospitalized following an overdose of anti-smoking nicotine patches. |
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