Sunday, April 09, 2006

If you thought you couldn't trust Joe Isuzu ... : "Thank You for Smoking"

Ivan Reitman has made some funny movies ... "Stripes," "Ghostbusters," Dave." Heck, I still think "Meatballs" should have won Bill Murray his first academy nomination. "It just doesn't matter! It just doesn't matter! It just doesn't matter!"

Does this pedigree mean his son Jason can direct for squat? Of course not. Kid's gotta make his bones on his own. Based on "Thank You for Smoking," though, it looks like he's off to a decent start.

I'll admit I was excited about this movie from the trailer, which outlined a biting satire with plenty of good actors. While the satire was biting only some of the time, and "Smoking" asks you to suspend belief when it comes to some characters' actions -- even for a satire -- it's still an amusing story and relatively easy to digest and even appreciate in its intentions. That is, to make fun of the uptight, no-fun crowd. Boo!

"Smoking" gives us Aaron "Butt Chin" Eckhart as the lead spokesman for the tobacco industry, aka Satan. The movie has all sorts of fun with this, and so does Eckhart, portraying a character who embraces his role as the ultimate challenge, and one at which he usually succeeds.

The story has Eckhart working to keep cigarettes popular among the people amid attacks from such critics as a granola senator from Vermont (the great William H. Macy). We also follow Eckhart as he pals around with fellow Merchants of Death -- reps for the alcohol (Maria Bello, not naked, unfortunately) and gun industries (David Koechner, also not naked, fortunately) -- lobbies a Hollywood superagent (Rob Lowe) for prominent cigarette placement in movies and visits a former Marlboro man (Sam Elliott) who's now dying.

All these folks do a fine job in their limited roles, as do J.K. Simmons as Eckhart's boss and Robert Duvall as the last tobacco baron. Somewhat less impressive is Mrs. Silent Birth, Katie Holmes, as an investigative reporter who catches Eckhart's eye. (And crotch, too.) As an actor, she makes a great mother for a crazy Scientologist's child.

Eckhart's character also tries to educate his young son in the ways for the world while doing his sleazeball job, which gives his character a little more depth without making him actually deep. The guy remains a mouthpiece ... he just tells his kid why America needs mouthpieces. "If you argue right, you are right." Talk about taking PR to the extreme. Your own kid, man?

So does it all work? Sure, for the most part. Even at 90 minutes, it's drags a bit in places, and the father-son thing wasn't all that interesting after a while. The movie also felt a bit like a series of skits, with Eckhart going from one politically incorrect situation to another. None of these are killers, and overall the movie is funny.

I just might have gone further and given it an even rougher edge, especially since Eckhart -- despite his sh*t-eating grin and unapologetic attitude -- mostly comes off as lovable here. It's kind of a "He's in on the joke, so he can't be that bad" thing. This definitely isn't "In the Company of Men." I think I read somewhere that women would come up to Eckhart after that movie and tear into him for being such an a$$hole. Now that's acting.

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