Sunday, September 22, 2013

Thank you for smoking (2005)


5 comments:

  1. Film Review- THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
    What a title! That’s how my first reaction while choosing this DVD looked like. I really didn’t know what to expect of a film with the title you would associate with the smoking ban signs having the inscription “Thank you for not smoking here”. While watching the film I were able to discover the meaning behind this title.

    Like I just mentioned the film is bearing the ironical title “THANK YOU FOR SMOKING”. The protagonists real name is Aaron Eckhart (known by “The Dark Knight”, “The Rum Diary”), other prominent stars in the movie are Maria Bello (“Grown Ups”, “World Trade Center”), Cameron Bright (“The Twilight Saga- Breaking Dawn; New Moon; Eclipse”), Sam Elliott (“Up in the Air”, “Ghost Rider”, Hulk”) or the well-known actress Katie Holmes (“ How I Met Your Mother”,” The Kennedys”, Batman Begins”). The film was directed by Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”) and is based on the novel of the same name “THANK YOU FOR SMOKING” written by Christopher Buckley. The film is a comedy drama and plays in the USA.

    The film is told from Nick Naylor’s point of view, which is the vice-president of the Academy of Tobacco studies and a tobacco lobbyist. Naylor’s job is to reject the connection of lung cancer and smoking cigarettes. Having been invited in a TV-show with a boy with cancer, he tries to convince the audience from his point of view and rejects the boy’s illness successfully from smoking.
    In his private life, Naylor lives divorced of his wife Jill and their son Joey who comes regularly to visit his dad. Every week, Naylor is meeting up with his two friends Bobby Jay (firearm lobbyist) and Polly (alcohol lobbyist) in a bar and they are exchanging news and their current problems. They are jokingly calling themselves “The MOD Squad” (Merchants of Death). Naylor had had the idea of improving the image of smoking through the film industry – like smoking actors in upcoming Hollywood films. That’s why Naylor is sent to Los Angeles from his boss, called JB. During his stay in LA (with his son Joey) he also gets the order from his captain (who founded the Academy of Tobacco studies) to bribe the man who once played the Marlboro Man (who is diagnosed with cancer) so that he doesn’t say something against smoking. His plan works. Back home he meets the young reporter Heather Holloway who later seduces him to expose her secret information of his work. The Opponent of the Academy of Tobacco Studies is Senator Finistirre, who gives the order to kidnap Naylor. The kidnapper sticked lots of nicotine patches at Naylor who looses his consciousness. Waking up in a hospital he’s told that his high tolerance of nicotine in order to his smoking had saved him from dead, but now he is hypersensitive against nicotine. After the release of Heather’s article he is fired from his job and JB tells him, that the captain has died. That’s why Naylor falls into depression.


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  2. The cast playing in this film is coordinated and playing really authentically. An example for that is Naylor’s son Joey, who is represented by Cameron Bright. He reflects his character totally and shows a quite shy boy for whom his father is kind of a god. During the film you can notice a development in Joey’s character because he is getting more self-esteem (presentation in school).

    The background music is quite discreet and supports the feelings of the actors really well. This can be recognized in the scene where Nick just had been fired.

    All in all I really liked the film because of its funny dialogs and scenes and its moral behind. Sometimes the scenes (especially in conversation with his friends or with JB) are quite long-winded and could be boiled faster down to an essence. Of course I have to admit that there are plenty films in this genre and I know many films which are better than this. So if you like funny, satirical films, I can definitely recommend this to you, but if you prefer action films or dramas, you should watch another one. I do like funny films and that’s why I would value “Thank you for smoking” with 7.5 out of 10 points.
    (710 words)

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  3. I also think it is a good movie because the acting is very good, there are funny parts and the message behind it is important. Nick Naylor is unbeatable at debating. He makes smoking sound like it is healthy and he uses his convincing talking skills to influence others. It is interesting to see how his point in view changes throughout the movie because he always says, that everyone does his job to pay the mortgage. Nick is fouled by Heather Holloway and she publishes the criminal things the Academy of Tobacco studies did in the past. The company gets a lot of critics from the media and that's why Mr Naylor looses his job. He starts to rethink his way of life and his son becomes more important to him after he accompanied him on his LA trip. Even though the main character could manipulate almost everyone with his arguments, he decides to take more care of his son instead of fighting for something that is bad for the human race. I like the film because you see a man who is very good at what he does, giving up everything to be there for his family.

    I'd give the movie 8 out of 10.
    (206 words)
    HL

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  4. First of all I have to admit that I didn’t expect much from the movie, but I was positively surprised. Actually I really enjoyed watching it. The thing I liked best was the main character Nick Naylor (played by Aaron Eckhart), because of his philosophy of working and living. He works for the tobacco industry, which he represents and defends in public, for example he takes part in a talk show on television. He is a creative talker and so Nick almost can’t be beaten in a discussion. A fitting way to illustrated how Nick arguments in a discussion would be a quote from the movie itself: (Nick explains to his son :) “It’s not about proofing that you’re right, it’s about proofing that the other one is wrong. That means you’re automatically right.” Furthermore Nick Naylor could be described as a “sonny boy”, because he’s most of the time in a good mood and even after his carrier is quite destroyed he gets up and solves his critical situation with humour. All in all I would recommend the movie to everybody not at least because of the brilliant Aaron Eckhart playing Nick Naylor.
    ( 194 words) M.G

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