Thank You For Smoking is a satirical black comedy following Nick Naylor, the chief spokesperson for the tobacco lobby in America. Throughout, Nick (played by Aaron Eckhart) has to deal with do-gooder politicians who want to inform people that smoking is bad for them, Heather Holloway (Katie Holmes), a reporter who’ll do anything to catch Nick out, an aging Marlboro Man fighting a losing battle with cancer and domestic terrorists who strongly oppose the tobacco industry. All the while trying to not be a completely terrible role model for his son Joey (Cameron Bright). As far as protagonists go Naylor is amazing, completely loathsome in almost ever regard, but charming enough for you to forget that you hate him. He even refers to his own claims that his job is just a way to pay the mortgage as the “Yuppie Nuremberg defense”. In his rare moments of clarity even Nick Naylor knows Nick Naylor is not a good guy.
This is the feature film debut of writer/director Jason Reitman. Being based on the novel of the same name by the great American satirist Christopher Buckley it was going to be hard for this movie to be completely dreadful. One major difference we see with the movie version is the switch to a first person narrative. This gives us a great insight into exactly what’s going on in Nick’s head and creates a greater familiarity with the character. All the time he’s working the crowd, getting them on his side he’s doing the same to audiences of the movie. His relationship with his son plays a greater part in the movie adaptation and it manages to add another level to Nick, a loving father who tries to do his best. Unfortunately the relationship seems to blossom out of nowhere. With Nick initially seeming to be an inattentive father and an embarrassment to his son. Then out of nowhere the relationship seems very close and very tender. You get the feeling something happened to change the nature of their relationship but you never really find out what. Ortolon Finnistere (William H. Macy) as a sort of nemesis to Naylor seems more like a caricature of nanny state-minded liberals rather than a well rounded character, the shots at him seem too easy.
As far as satire goes though Thank You For Smoking manages to be spot on most of the time. It takes shots at two different sides of an issue and never feels the need to patronise audiences.. It mostly avoids the easy route of just screaming “These are the bad guys, hate them!” Most of the humour is clever enough to make some viewers wonder when a character is being ridiculed and when they should actually be taken seriously. This movie on it’s own is a pretty good achievement and something those involved can be proud of. As far as a directorial debut goes it’s incredible. Hopefully this is the start of a great career.
Admittedly this movie might be relatively well known compared to what I hope to focus on here but it was only the 66th highest grossing film of the year and it was a horror movie opening in April so it's safe to say some people might have missed it.
Note this review does kind of contain a spoiler but it's one that appears in the trailer and is revealed really early into the movie.
Cabin In The Woods follows five college students as they head up to the eponymous cabin in the woods for a weekend of debauchery. Along for the ride is the jock, the whore (their words, not mine), the scholar, the fool and the virgin. So far so typical and I can feel you rolling your eyes right now. Stop that. The set up? Some shadowy underground organisation is coordinating all of this. Altering the characters personalities and moods with chemicals and keeping them under heavy surveillance. Why? That's the part I'll leave for you to find out yourselves. All we know at the start is that this is all being directed by some group in an attempt to appease some apparently very demanding audience. This is where the voice of co-writer Joss Whedon becomes clearer than ever. A man who makes genre bending original works over and over again despite being ruined by inattentive audiences and overbearing studios who will destroy anything that goes off formula even a little. It's obviously very self-referential to his own experiences. Deviate from what the crowd or studios want/expect/demand and you're out of luck. It's a really interesting case study in making horror films all wrapped up in a horror film.
Cabin is an extremely well crafted movie. The characters all fit nicely into their respective tropes but with enough winking and nodding to not feel bland.Fran Kranz as the fool absolutely steals the show though. The pacing is fantastic, in the first two acts right up there with some of the bests of the genre like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Evil Dead but then turning it right up to 11 for act three. The plot is unique and while it can be a bit heavy handed with the message it's trying to give out it doesn't let that message get in the way of telling a good story. It's not all critique though, the film serves as a love letter to those that went before it. Crammed with enough references and in-jokes for fans of the genre to keep people entertained through multiple viewings as they try to catch something they miss. It also comes with a few genuinely tense moments and some real scares to work on its own. It's just a pity it's point was kind of made for it. Both times I saw this movie in the cinema people stood up and walked out. Like I said, it's the 66th biggest movie of 2012, easy enough to miss so I'd highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.
Happythankyoumoreplease is the feature writing and directorial debut of Josh Radnor, better known as Ted from How I Met Your Mother. Premiering at Sundance in 2010, it was released commercially in 2011. It is essentially Big Daddy by way of Woody Allen's Manhatten. In it, Sam Wexler (Radnor) is a short story writer turned aspiring novelist who takes in a lost child (Michael Algieri's Rasheen) he finds on a subway and meets the girl of his dreams (Kate Mara's Mississippi) in what must have been a very busy day for him. The film also follows his best friend Malin Ackerman as Annie, an Alopecia patient,trying to find love and Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan) and boyfriend Charlie (Pablo Schreiber) struggling with the idea of leaving New York and moving to L.A.
The film itself is kind of charming if a little bland. Characters speaking to each other in motivational, philosophical monologues as they try to grow into the people they want to be. The characters themselves can be a little weak at times. Sam spends most of the movie flip flopping between self-conscious worrier and swaggering charmer. This was my main problem with the character. He could go from complete self doubt to saying just the right charming line to win over Mississipi in the blink of an eye. Annie is a pretty standard rom-com character seemingly given Alopecia just to be different. I don't mean that to sound harsh it's just that the film sets it up for her condition to mean something but really she's just a reasonably strong if slightly flawed person who deals with her condition as best she can. Which, in and of itself is not a problem but when the film can't decide if this is a conflict for her or just a thing she accepts it leaves it all feeling kind of weak. It just needs to pick, create a character with a medical condition who doesn't seem overly affected, that kind of thing happens everyday, or set this up as a cause for internal struggle but don't try and do both. Charlie is pleasant and enjoyable to watch even if he's a little too pleasant to be interesting at times and Mary Catherine and Mississippi are just kind of there. The film doesn't seem concerned with Mississippi or Rasheen as people, just as plot devices that can affect and alter Sam and help him grow. Almost all of the characters are one kind of artist or another because this is New York and Woody Allen told us everyone there is an artist. We also catch most of the characters in the middle of personal growth, we don't see who they were or who they become and as such it's kind of hard to care or come away with any strong feelings for them one way or another.
The film's weakest point comes at it's direct reference to Woody Allen, which just serves to remind us that this kind of thing has all been done before and by more insightful, clever, funny people. It's a bit slow at times, essentially just being about some stuff that happens that helps the characters grow without much stringing it together or making it flow. The relationship between Sam and Mississipi feels rushed (even more than is clearly intended) while still feeling boring and uninspired, just jumping through the same hoops two or three times only to end up back where they started. Cutesy, charming dialogue included.
All that being said, I enjoyed it well enough. It's got enough individual enjoyable moments that while it can slow down to almost a stop at times if you stick with it a couple of more minutes something will always happen to delight. The philosophical monologues I mentioned aren't hugely insightful or world shattering but they're often lessons people can struggle to learn and they just go to the show that when it comes to growing up the big questions usually have some quite simple answers. It's not as clever or deep as it seems to think it is but it also isn't preachy or overly pretentious. It's a sweet, honest film and a decent first effort. All in all I'd recommend it, at the very least it tries to teach us something.
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