Thank You for Smoking

On the one hand, a very cynical and morally incorrect film that relies on extremely playful direction and the brilliant Eckhart; on the other, a charming and wonderfully brisk indie whose interpretation is probably up to each individual. I don't want to dissect the content here; what's important to me is that Reitman refrains from any judgement or evaluation and "merely" manages to reflect the facts in an excellent way and humorously portray the behind-the-scenes world of the tobacco industry. Aaron Eckhart was absolutely excellent. A remarkable debut for Jason Reitman. (23/09/2012)

Nick doesn’t lie or try to hide the truth... He just filters it. An (a)morally flexible picture not unlike Lord of War. Eckhart is maturing with each new movie he appears in and Jason Reitman confirmed with his (commercial) debut that he is a director that knows how to work with difficult topics intelligently and very comically and it doesn’t matter at all that the picture is a mere revue of scenes steeped in black humor and satire. (22/09/2006)

Finally a film that has some class. It's full of intelligent arguments and quality jokes from the start. Aaron Eckhart is unflappable and handles his role with aplomb. He didn't convince me to smoke, but I found his performance very likeable. The second half of the film is a little weaker, but still deserves a full rating. (01/05/2011)

A smart, sharply sarcastic comedy that spares no one and nothing and is full of catchphrases from all sides, while still being true to life. In no scene or with no character does one feel anything artificial. A good screenplay was matched with a decent director and the cast is very high-quality, so together it is not a groundbreaking film, but a very quality genre film that will please fans of intelligent humor. It is exactly the kind of movie where I will surely remember certain catchphrases even years later. Overall impression: 80%. (01/06/2009)

The phenomenal Aaron Eckhart could even make you think that smoking cigarettes is actually a healthy thing. Unfortunately, director Reitman spends the entire ninety minutes flitting between the political correctness of a hot topic and a family melodrama about model fatherhood. If it had thirty extra minutes and a more integral directorial lead who could have been more "loose" would have only helped the film. Then it would have been an absolute hit. Andrew Niccol poked at a similar theme much more vigorously, boldly, and, above all, engagingly. It’s not at all bad for a debut and the promising signs of interesting talent are definitely there. Keep it up! (04/02/2007)