Thank You For Smoking

[Maureen]

Thank You for Smoking

A film review by Annette Cardwell - Copyright © 2006 filmcritic.com

Striding up alongside such great anti-heroes as Tony Soprano and Scarface comes Nick Naylor, a silver-tongued lobbyist with such a tremendous gift for gab that he actually successfully defends the tobacco industry. And as much as you probably think cigarette makers are evil, you'll find yourself – as with all anti-heroes – actually rooting for this scumbag.

Why? Well, besides star Aaron Eckhart's flawlessly sumptuous performance as Naylor, I'll just quote a line from Naylor himself: "The beauty of argument is that if you argue correctly, you're never wrong." In the end, Nick Naylor is not just right; he's unquestionably the most passionate, most seductive man on the screen, and everyone else just looks limp and dull beside him.

It's the golden years just before the tobacco lawsuit payouts, and Naylor's on his way up at the tobacco-funded Academy of Tobacco Studies. He's the golden boy of tobacco patriarch The Captain (Robert Duvall), because he can tell that Nick loves – scratch that – relishes his work. But, away from the office, his only friends are other vice peddlers that go by the nickname The MOD (Merchants of Death) Squad: alcohol lobbyist Polly (Maria Bello) and gun lobbyist Bobby Jay (David Koechner). He's also divorced, struggling to gain the respect of his son Joey (Cameron Bright).

Much of the film follows Nick through that struggle to bond with Joey, which produces some of his most humanizing moments. Nick likes to say he does what he does because of his "yuppie Nuremberg defense": Gotta pay the mortgage. But more likely, these often-sappy vignettes help you understand that it's simply inspiring to do a job you're so good at, and Nick's skill at his craft is what finally wins Joey over.

But the real fun stuff is obviously in Nick's professional life. He takes apart a talk-show panel replete with a balding teen cancer victim. He skewers an anti-smoking-crusading senator (William H. Macy) by comparing "evil" big-tobacco funding to the senator's campaign donations. He conducts a luxuriously amoral meeting with a big-time Hollywood agent (Rob Lowe) who's brokering a deal for more cigarettes in movies. The sets come rapid-fire in this 90-minute comedy, never leaving you deflated, apart from the somewhat ho-hum ending...

http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.ns...45?OpenDocument

At first I wasn't interested in this movie but I saw an advertisement for it and decided to go see it. It was very funny and while watching it I thought of LDSTalk mainly because of this line:

"The beauty of argument is that if you argue correctly, you're never wrong."

I know, this is a strange movie to recommend on a LDS message board but I think many here would enjoy the humour and thought put into this movie. The main character is a lobbyist for Big Tobacco and extremely likeable. Aaron Eckhart plays the main character and I just found out today while reading another article about the movie that he was raised Mormon but he says he hasn't lived the lifestyle in many years so he doesn't consider himself Mormon anymore. (Those Mormons and once Mormons are everywhere - they're taking over the world!)

If you're bored and you want a good laugh and something to think about later, I recommend this movie.

M.

[Ray]

If you really want to have a good laugh, I suggest that you see Ice Age 2... a very funny movie with a lot of good humor about life and love and family. :)

[shanstress70]

I saw that last weekend with my son. He loved it, and I enjoyed it too... but I wish they would have put the baby from the first one in the sequel. I couldn't figure out why they left him and his dad out of it.

[Ray]

I saw that last weekend with my son. He loved it, and I enjoyed it too... but I wish they would have put the baby from the first one in the sequel. I couldn't figure out why they left him and his dad out of it.

It's been a while since I've seen the first one. Which animals are you talking about?

[Maureen]

If you really want to have a good laugh, I suggest that you see Ice Age 2... a very funny movie with a lot of good humor about life and love and family. :)

Hey Ray, I'm sure it is - I did enjoy the first one. If not in the theatre, then DVD will do. :)

M.

[Dror]

I look forward to watching this one--after it's in the dollar theatre. (I refuse to pay what the regular theatres charge these days!) The antics of the tobacco industry at times crack me up, at times make me want to scream. Here in my town the city council finally passed an ordinance forbidding smoking in public places, including bars. The smokers, of course, decided to make an issue of it, which is their right, got a petition going, and had the matter put on the ballot. Well, the voters decided to uphold the smoking ban! The smokers wouldn't give up, however, and got it on the ballot again the following year. The voters still upheld the smoking ban. To this day the smokers are griping about it, complaining about their "freedom" being taken away, about having to step outside for a smoke, etc., etc. Why don't they just let it go? The People have spoken, already!! Will it kill them to go outside for 10 minutes for their cigarette? (Oh, wait, it actually will kill them. Smoking, that is, not going outside! )

[CharlieDesRosiers]

I'm all for people smoking outside. It's proper, polite, and considerate. The thing that I find most upsetting is the shocking lack of shelter or overhead cover for smokers. It's part of the vice that one should go outside and deal with the rain, snow, sleet, hurricanes, excruciating sunlight, etc. in order to have a cigarette, but I think it's just plain cruel to deny smokers a simple awning just because they really ought to kick the habit, anyway. Yes, smokers are killing themselves. Yes, they know it. But the respiratory infections and the general malaise that comes with diminished oxygen saturation, added to the light of reason,... well, it makes them grumpy enough as it is. And you'd be grumpy, too, if you were they. For the same reasons we don't kick a man when he's down, nothing good will come of scolding smokers for smoking.

I'm considering starting a campaign with bumper stickers that read: Have you hugged a smoker today?

Anyone want to help me with my vision?

[Palerider]

Thank You for Smoking

A film review by Annette Cardwell - Copyright © 2006 filmcritic.com

Striding up alongside such great anti-heroes as Tony Soprano and Scarface comes Nick Naylor, a silver-tongued lobbyist with such a tremendous gift for gab that he actually successfully defends the tobacco industry. And as much as you probably think cigarette makers are evil, you'll find yourself – as with all anti-heroes – actually rooting for this scumbag.

Why? Well, besides star Aaron Eckhart's flawlessly sumptuous performance as Naylor, I'll just quote a line from Naylor himself: "The beauty of argument is that if you argue correctly, you're never wrong." In the end, Nick Naylor is not just right; he's unquestionably the most passionate, most seductive man on the screen, and everyone else just looks limp and dull beside him.

It's the golden years just before the tobacco lawsuit payouts, and Naylor's on his way up at the tobacco-funded Academy of Tobacco Studies. He's the golden boy of tobacco patriarch The Captain (Robert Duvall), because he can tell that Nick loves – scratch that – relishes his work. But, away from the office, his only friends are other vice peddlers that go by the nickname The MOD (Merchants of Death) Squad: alcohol lobbyist Polly (Maria Bello) and gun lobbyist Bobby Jay (David Koechner). He's also divorced, struggling to gain the respect of his son Joey (Cameron Bright).

Much of the film follows Nick through that struggle to bond with Joey, which produces some of his most humanizing moments. Nick likes to say he does what he does because of his "yuppie Nuremberg defense": Gotta pay the mortgage. But more likely, these often-sappy vignettes help you understand that it's simply inspiring to do a job you're so good at, and Nick's skill at his craft is what finally wins Joey over.

But the real fun stuff is obviously in Nick's professional life. He takes apart a talk-show panel replete with a balding teen cancer victim. He skewers an anti-smoking-crusading senator (William H. Macy) by comparing "evil" big-tobacco funding to the senator's campaign donations. He conducts a luxuriously amoral meeting with a big-time Hollywood agent (Rob Lowe) who's brokering a deal for more cigarettes in movies. The sets come rapid-fire in this 90-minute comedy, never leaving you deflated, apart from the somewhat ho-hum ending...

http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.ns...45?OpenDocument

At first I wasn't interested in this movie but I saw an advertisement for it and decided to go see it. It was very funny and while watching it I thought of LDSTalk mainly because of this line:

"The beauty of argument is that if you argue correctly, you're never wrong."

I know, this is a strange movie to recommend on a LDS message board but I think many here would enjoy the humour and thought put into this movie. The main character is a lobbyist for Big Tobacco and extremely likeable. Aaron Eckhart plays the main character and I just found out today while reading another article about the movie that he was raised Mormon but he says he hasn't lived the lifestyle in many years so he doesn't consider himself Mormon anymore. (Those Mormons and once Mormons are everywhere - they're taking over the world!)

If you're bored and you want a good laugh and something to think about later, I recommend this movie.

M.

Good one Maureen.....now if we could only catch up with the Catholics and Baptist then we might be able too.........LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......

[Dror]

I'm all for people smoking outside. It's proper, polite, and considerate. The thing that I find most upsetting is the shocking lack of shelter or overhead cover for smokers. It's part of the vice that one should go outside and deal with the rain, snow, sleet, hurricanes, excruciating sunlight, etc. in order to have a cigarette, but I think it's just plain cruel to deny smokers a simple awning just because they really ought to kick the habit, anyway. Yes, smokers are killing themselves. Yes, they know it. But the respiratory infections and the general malaise that comes with diminished oxygen saturation, added to the light of reason,... well, it makes them grumpy enough as it is. And you'd be grumpy, too, if you were they. For the same reasons we don't kick a man when he's down, nothing good will come of scolding smokers for smoking.

I'm considering starting a campaign with bumper stickers that read: Have you hugged a smoker today?

Anyone want to help me with my vision?

Charlie,

I'm sorry if I came across as putting down smokers. We all have our bad habits (and know better), and I know this is a particularly hard one to kick. My sister used to smoke, and just couldn't give it up for years and years, until she got pregnant. Protecting the baby's health was the motivation she needed to overcome the addiction. Even then, I don't know if she could have done it without lots of support from family and friends. I have nothing against smokers as people.

What I do have a problem with is (some) smokers insisting that they have a right to smoke wherever they want, whenever they want, regardless of non-smokers' health. I have just as much right not to smoke as someone else has the right to smoke. When I'm in a public place sitting in the same room as a smoker, however, that person effectively takes away my right not to smoke, because, well, the smoke goes all over the place--it's not limited to his or her personal space. I'm constantly amazed how powerful that stuff is! Even outside, I can be 20, 30 feet away from a smoker, and it still smells strong!

You have a good point, though. It surely would be nice to have some kind of shelter to protect smokers from the elements.

A little secret of mine. Although I find the vast majority of cigarettes and cigars to smell repulsive (not to mention that they make me cough uncontrollably), certain pipe tobaccos and cigarettes actually smell not too bad! Don't tell anybody I said that, though, or my bishop mind start wondering about me!!

[ALatterDaySaint]

Perhaps we can give the smokers something like those oxygen masks in airplanes...only fill it with the smoke from their favorite brand of cigarette, which they purchase at the snack bar with their nachos. That way they dont have to go outside and can still get that fix without effecting others who dont smoke. Maybe even give them goggles so the smoke will be lightly in their eyes, as they are acustomed to? Its the wave of the future!!!!

[Maureen]

Good one Maureen.....now if we could only catch up with the Catholics and Baptist then we might be able too.........LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......

Sorry to be so thick Palerider but I don't understand your comment, please explain.

M.

[shanstress70]

<div class='quotemain'>

I saw that last weekend with my son. He loved it, and I enjoyed it too... but I wish they would have put the baby from the first one in the sequel. I couldn't figure out why they left him and his dad out of it.

It's been a while since I've seen the first one. Which animals are you talking about?

Sorry it took me so long to see this, Ray. I was actually talking about the human baby. Remember, his mom was killed and the mammoth took care of him until he was reunited with his dad at the end? I was hoping they would show him again.

I'm all for people smoking outside. It's proper, polite, and considerate. The thing that I find most upsetting is the shocking lack of shelter or overhead cover for smokers.

I'm NOT for people smoking outside when they congregate around the front door of my office and I have to walk through it in order to get in the building. By then, I smell like I've been smoking one myself!

And I don't feel that companies or gov't buildings should go out of their way to give them as much as an awning. As cold as that sounds, it's not something you want to encourage. Why not make it as difficult as possible to smoke?

[Lindy]

I'm all for people smoking outside. It's proper, polite, and considerate. The thing that I find most upsetting is the shocking lack of shelter or overhead cover for smokers. It's part of the vice that one should go outside and deal with the rain, snow, sleet, hurricanes, excruciating sunlight, etc. in order to have a cigarette, but I think it's just plain cruel to deny smokers a simple awning just because they really ought to kick the habit, anyway. Yes, smokers are killing themselves. Yes, they know it. But the respiratory infections and the general malaise that comes with diminished oxygen saturation, added to the light of reason,... well, it makes them grumpy enough as it is. And you'd be grumpy, too, if you were they. For the same reasons we don't kick a man when he's down, nothing good will come of scolding smokers for smoking.

I'm considering starting a campaign with bumper stickers that read: Have you hugged a smoker today?

Anyone want to help me with my vision?

I see your point Charlie, and I wouldn't have a problem with companies putting out a bit of money to provide simple shelter for the smokers who have to have that ciggarette to make it thru another 2 1/2 hours of work till the next break From what I see at my work place.... rain or shine...they will be out there.... why risk them calling in sick from being rained on or freeze in 28 degree with a wind chill factor of -10? They will smoke until they want to quit... even if prices go up to $2 or $3 each (I'm sure it will get close) oh, and the smokers stand around the corner of the building where I work.... only out of consideration of others.... well, that and that's where the outside employee table is located

And I'm not much of a fan of the smell of ciggarette smoke..... but I would make an exception to give you a hug Charlie

Sorry...had to laugh at this one:

Perhaps we can give the smokers something like those oxygen masks in airplanes...only fill it with the smoke from their favorite brand of cigarette, which they purchase at the snack bar with their nachos.

I can just hear it now..... "ummm gimme nachos, small icee and a smoke mask of that Marlboro Menthol to go" Oh what a mental picture..... had to laugh again LOL

[Fiannan]

Smoking, unlike alcohol, may cost society a lot, but in the longrun it either comes out even or even helps out the economy. You see, even with all the missed work and problems associated with smoking, it tends to kill people with quick heart attacks while they are in their 50s and 60s. Others it takes out with cancer in those years, or soon after retirement. Point? A person puts in 40 years of work, pays into pensions and social secuirity, and then dies before retiring. That leaves the people who don't smoke more money while they live perhaps 20 or more years after retirment.

Alcohol on the other hand kills young people ready to approach their productive years or already in it. It also kils people on the streets, in crimes, etc. who might not even drink.

[Maureen]

...Point? A person puts in 40 years of work, pays into pensions and social secuirity, and then dies before retiring. That leaves the people who don't smoke more money while they live perhaps 20 or more years after retirment....

Not sure I'm understanding Fiannan. The person who may die prematurely before retirement usually has a beneficiary, who would then get the retirement money. A person who lives longer (thus working longer) would accumulate more money for retirement, is that what you mean?

M.

[Fiannan]

A 63 year old who dies through engaging in a stupid habit like smoking saves money (generally) for retirment systems. Sad maybe, but cold economic reality. A beneficiary will not get the same amount of money the man/woman would have received had they retired.

A non-smoker generally lives much longer than a smoker so in theory some of the money the non-smoker gets from SS will be money that would have gone to the smoker who paid his/her exicse taxes and SS money and then expires prematurely.

[pushka]

Ooooh, I just love your cold, clinical style Fiannan!! LOL.