Death Merchant

Thank You For Smoking (4/5 stars)

Thank You For Smoking tells the story of a tobacco lobbyist, his family, his relationship with a young reporter, and his battle with a anti-tobacco senator from Vermont.

The movie satirizes both the cigarette lobby and the opposition, although not quite as savagely as I would like. There are many very funny touches throughout, however, such as the MOD (Merchant of Death) squad meetings with the alchohol and firearms lobbies where the lobbyists brag and compare notes on how many people their products kill yearly, the tobacco lobbyist's lecture to his son's class ('my mom says cigarettes are dangerours' a girl says, 'are she a trained physician, little girl?' he replies), and a plot to increase smoking by having good looking movie stars light up cigarettes in a space station after a sex scene. "We'll make tobacco sexy again."

The cast is excellent and the writing good, and I completely recommend seeing it, but what would have made this movie better is making the man even more evil than he is in the movie. Additionally, the opposition is touched upon as being hypocrites out to get votes but it could have been taking farther. Not being particularly fond of mommy-state politics, this would have hit right home with me. Finally, towards the end of the movie the main character kind of gains a conscience, which wasn't completely necessary.

While not destined to be any kind of great classic, this will probably be one of more funny movies to come out this year.