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Thank You for Smoking
Fox Searchlight Pictures


8.0

based on 36 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 73 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Juno

MPAA RATING: R for language and some sexual content

Starring Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, William H. Macy, Robert Duvall, and Rob Lowe

Thank You for Smoking is a fiercely satirical look at today's "culture of spin." The hero of the film is Nick Naylor (Eckhart), chief spokesman for Big Tobacco, who makes his living defending the rights of smokers and cigarette makers in today's neo-puritanical culture. (Fox Searchlight)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Jason Reitman Christopher Buckley (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Jason Reitman
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: October 3, 2006 Theatrical: March 17, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	92 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

A sly, smart and very funny caricature of corporate politics and image culture.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Funny stuff.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Fierce, fast and funny.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The razor-sharp satire Thank You for Smoking is the wittiest dark comedy of the year thus far. It has appeal to all sides of the political spectrum.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The first film in a long time with a true gift of gab. A lot of the time people actually talk fast in it. Its wisecracks actually crack wise.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Here is a satire both savage and elegant, a dagger instead of a shotgun.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Both sides of the political fence will feel royally skewered. All that's lacking is a warning from the Surgeon General: This film will make you laugh till it hurts.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

It's more fun than a turkey shoot. It's also one of the most entertaining riffs on American culture in years.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Much like his father Ivan (Ghostbusters), first-time director Jason Reitman has a broad, anything-goes comedic sensibility that allows silly gags and incidental humor to sneak in alongside the satirical barbs.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Cynical and cheerily merciless.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A very smart and funny movie directed by Jason Reitman, who also shrewdly adapted the screenplay from Christopher Buckley's savagely satiric novel.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's got a bust-out performance from Eckhart that's worth remembering.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Really a blistering satire about spin and the manipulation of the media.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

This is the kind of comedy that gives you two meaty underhanded jokes for every big obvious guffaw. It doesn't add up to much more than that, but there's no earthly reason why it ought to.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Eckhart is dazzling as a born phony.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Like its protagonist, the movie is smart, soulless, glib, and utterly charming -- just the thing to warm up a movie season that's been late to bloom.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A glib satire with a slick surface, lots of snappy patter and nothing to sell but its own cleverness.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

In some ways, Thank You for Smoking does not bemoan smoking as much as it bemoans people's willingness to be duped by smooth-tongued orators.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Snarky and enjoyable, but it could have been a ferocious black comedy. No Thank You For Playing It Safe.

New York Post Kyle Smith

The movie is strangely demure in its attempts to be wild.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

As sleek, clever and cocky as its anti-heroic protagonist, Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), a hard-driving lobbyist for the tobacco industry who can turn the most unpromising PR quagmire to his own advantage with a few well-turned lies posing as rational argument.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Of all the funny things in Thank You for Smoking, and there are many, the most striking is Robert Duvall's absolutely mirthless laugh.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Glibly funny and eager to please.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The movie is amusing and clever but only skin deep. It lacks the acidity and rage of a satire such as "Network."

Variety David Rooney

Playing a Big Tobacco lobbyist, Aaron Eckhart puts his golden news-anchor good looks and smooth conviction to better use than in any pic since his breakthrough film, "In the Company of Men."

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

As the substantially faithful movie version demonstrates, the story of Thank You for Smoking resides in that libertarian netherworld where the far left and the far right march shoulder to shoulder.

The New Yorker David Denby

Thank You for Smoking is a nifty but slight movie. Some of the writing is obvious, and the dramatic structure is flimsy, if not downright arbitrary. But Eckhart, in a sure-handed performance, holds the picture together.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Simon Houpt

A slick and star-studded comedy trumpeting a glib libertarianism that talks a good game but is as woolly headed as the liberalism fixed in its sights.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Despite its many strengths, Thank You for Smoking hovers around mediocrity, and its lasting impression is like a puff of smoke that is dissipated by a strong gust of wind.

Slate David Edelstein

To work onscreen, Thank You for Smoking needed to be fast, scruffy, and offhand. But even the good lines here last a self-congratulatory beat too long. Aaron Eckhart is likable, but he's too hangdog and naturalistic for a part that could have used a brisk young Jack Lemmon type.

Film Threat Jeremy Mathews

The film isn't as funny as the highly publicized conflict over the sell of its distribution rights might have you believe, but does contain a series of energized and entertaining performances that stop it from being a complete failure.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Instead of hitting the gas and allowing the scenario to rock 'n' roll with g-forces, Reitman keeps his movie small, unvaried, slack, and deliberately and oddly, completely smoke-free.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

As a satire on Tobacco Inc.'s outrageous ability to market carbon monoxide as the elixir of life, this movie should be packing more nicotine.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

The chief problem with Thank You for Smoking, isn't that it's over the top; it's that it fits so neatly UNDER the top.

Empire Dan Jolin

A laudably amoral and superbly caustic comedy for those who like their satire strong and unfiltered.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

For a film that's ostensibly about modern American society's love affair with addictive behavior – sex, drugs, rock & roll – its bark is much worse than its bite.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 73 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ryan S. gave it a10:
I love this movie... I have been smoking for a year now and I needed to stop badly... Thanks to this movie I quit completely. This movie is great, funny, and has a very clever plot line. 10 STARS!!!!

M N. gave it a10:
I saw this movie by chance the other night so I hadn't heard anything about it prior. I loved this film, I consider it one of the best comedies I've seen in ages. Brilliant cast and very clever.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
One of the best scripts this decade--vastly underrated and near-perfect from start to finish.

Matīss I. gave it a10:
Tired of the usual crap. than this movie is perfect for you!

Dan C. gave it a5:
I'm amazed by all the reviews calling this movie funny, witty, and bitingly satirical. It's incredibly bland and obvious throughout, as are its characters. Nothing subversive or original here. Almost no laughs, not many quiet funny moments, and generally boring as heck. This is 1/100 the satire of a real masterpiece like the South Park movie.

Riren gave it a9:
One of the funniest movies in years, Thank You For Smoking makes its points and pricks everyone with them. Almost every role is immaculately casted, especially the leads, with the actors providing the right doses of sympathy, frustration and venom along the offensively hilarious plot. The tobacco industry's lies and doubletalk are only the premise from which larger-than-life characters rise to entertain through surprising exercises in lack of compassion, egomania and the occasional exhibition of real human weakness. Best, Thank You For Smoking doesn't hate anyone involved in its subject matter. Like Kevin Smith's Dogma, it is humanistic enough to entertain, even at the expense of its themes - and this ultimately gregarious notion makes a more profound statement about the treatment of tobacco in modern society than scathing films like Crash do about bigotry.

Joey K. gave it a9:
Very funny. It's not your average movie, however. Many of the reviews above make the terrible mistake of assuming that they knew beforehand what the movie was supposed to be like. "It wasn't edgy enough" "It was supposed to satire tobacco more." It isn't a scathing or outrageous movie, but why should it be? This movie is about rhetoric, debate, and point of view. Smoking is the setting and an exaggerated liberal stance is the antagonist. That doesn't mean its about those. It's a great movie that is deep enough to get you to think about the way you think, plenty satirical, and it still throws in dozens of unexpected laughs. Highly recommended.

Thank You for Smoking Fox Searchlight Pictures

Thank You for Smoking
Fox Searchlight Pictures