DVD Review: Thank You For Smoking

Going to get podcast up by end of the week, should be moving to the new site too. Got a couple of days off work in the week and not much to do so I'll sort it out. Was going to review Rocky Balboa on Friday but the projector broke down at the cinema I went to and I wanted some more money to go out with on Friday night (Thanks to all those I saw, fucking funny night). So in Rocky's place....

DVD Review: Thank You For Smoking (Jason Reitman, 2006, USA).

First time feature director Jason (Son of Ivan) Reitman bites off what many would consider more than he could chew for his first film, a sort of bizarro-world version of a morality tale, hoping to teach us something, while wearing its own twisted value system on it's sleave. For many directors, this could have easily been either a jumbled mess or an in-the-end sacchrine tale. However, not all first-time directors have grown up in the house of the man who directed Ghostbusters....
Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is paid to talk, and talk well. He works as the Vice-President of the Academy of Tobacco Studies, an industry-funded authority who are trying to prove that the bad effects of smoking cannot be conclusivley proven. Naylor then has to convince the world of its findings. Naylor's world is soon turned upside down by two people, his son Joey (Cameron Bright) and investigative reporter Heather (Katie Holmes).
If the premise of the film is not caustic enough, it is added too further by the opening scene in which Naylor is able to convince a day-time talk show audience that the industry is being given a unjustly tough time by the press and even shakes the hand of a child known only as "Cancer Boy"- PC this ain't. However, as original the premise is, and indeed the things which happen in the film hold true to this spirit, less can be said about the screenplay. This film seems to hit every single beat of the "inspirtaional" drama. Father conncecting with his son? Check. Man experiences a fall from grace but through an inspiritional chat is able to get back on top? Yep. Potential love interest? Aye. Man realising who his true friends are? Sure, why not? The whole twisted morale of the piece is able to very well disguise the fact that at heart it is quite the unoriginal piece.
Saying this Reitman does a bang up job of filling this film with enough bells and whistles to still make this a very enjoyable film. If he was not brought up in the film industry, I very much doubt he would score the cast he does. Aaron Eckhart is able to pull off the sleazeball role while retining a large amount of charm, his job may make him a dickhead by default but he does seem to be a nice enough bloke. The fellow "Merchants of Death", Maria Bello and a typecast-but-who-cares David Koechner, pull off their roles with aplomb, Maria Bello is understated and actually fairly affecting and David Koechner the polar opposite but really fucking funny with it, his reaction to Joey's "cool gun" line had me in stiches. JK Simmons as Naylor's boss BR plays his role as a slightly less intimidating version of his editor of the Daily Bugle from the Spider-Man movies and makes it nearly as funny, one-dimesional but like Koechner all the better for it. Cameron Bright pulls off the role of the sun, slightly too old to be cute, but still at a stage where you believe he could be influenced by his dad that much, good work from him overall. Robert Duvall also deserves a mention in a brief but key role as The Captain, solid work as always from him. Rob Lowe is also fucking brilliant as Super Agent Jeff. He has only tow scenes but completely owns them both and his conversation with Naylor in the middle of the night is probably my favourite and also most surreal scene in the film. One weak link as she always is: Katie Holmes. Cannot play either a slut or a reporter well and as such is absolutly bloody useless in this film. Seems like casting with an eye to hitting certain demographics much like her frankly bizarre role as a LAWYER in Batman Begins (Incidentally, no prizes for guessing who is just about the only non-returning player for the sequel, The Dark Knight?). This woman looks too young to pull off the role, hs very little chemistry with Eckhart and while key to a certian aspect of the plot, has very little to do and is dropped from the film completely fairly early in the running. Reitman gets the best perfomances he can from the actors that he can and I would be suprised if he is seen as an "actor's director" as all the actors seem to be enjoying themselves an awful lot. Credit must also go to his directing chops, the man knows hoe to shoot a film. He uses the narration style of story-telling in constantly interesting ways and the film sparkles with energy. All credit to him for managing to pull off this film without once showing a character smoking.
Very enjoyable film, great perofmances and a first-rate directing job. It's just too bad that the film falls on its fundamental unoriginality. I will tell you something, this fault really shows itself up when you watch Monty Python's Life of Brian, pretty much straight after. Forgot how truly silly that film is.

Video: Pretty great transfer , maybe a little soft but given that this film was fairly low-budget it looks good nonetheless.

Audio: Better than expected Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Nice use of surround and in perfectly appropriate places. Not too much bass but this isn't an action film so none really expected. Dialogue is perfectly clear.

Extras not viewed, not very bothered about them either to be honest.

Very much recommended rent.

Back with M Night Shayamalan's Lady In The Water, probably Tuesday and hopefully with news of the new site and podcast.