"Thank You For Smoking"

Saw this movie at the Tower Theater, with Gabe, on Saturday night. A nice case study of that particular American specialty: bullshit. The 'hero' of the movie is Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), a quintessential creation of the public relations/lobbyist industry, as he defends the indefensible - the tobacco industry - and interacts with the press, his family, particularly his impressionable son, Joey (Cameron Bright), and the entire world (IMdB summary by Jim Beaver):

Tobacco industry lobbyist Nick Naylor has a seemingly impossible task: promoting cigarette smoking in a time when the health hazards of the activity have become too plain to ignore. Nick, however, revels in his job, using argument and twisted logic to place, as often as not, his clients in the positions of either altruistic do-gooders or victims. Nick's son Joey needs to understand and respect his dad's philosophy, and Nick works hard to respond to that need without compromising his lack of values. When a beautiful news reporter betrays Nick's sexually-achieved trust, his world seems in danger of collapsing. But there's always one more coffin nail in Nick's pack.

Several nice touches:

• The regular MOD (Masters of Destruction) squad lunches, where spokespeople of the liquor, cigarette, and guns industries get together to compare notes on their battles with do-good reformers and the nanny state;
• Use of the savage, nature-show footage from Patagonia, showing the remarkable skill of killer whales in momentarily beaching themselves in order to kill startled sea lions. Killer whales will die if they linger too long out of the ocean, but for a tasty meal, they'll take that risk. Both Nick and Joey were transfixed by this metaphorical display of modern savagery. Who knew how savage killer whales could be? Or modern capitalists, for that matter?;
• the clever kidnapping sequence; and,
• the relentless emphasis on puncturing everyone's favorite hypocrisies, even those of the do-gooders, while making everyone quite likable and human in the process.

Like the movie says, it's all about paying the mortgage! And the extra-credit moral I got was:

• You don't have prove that your opponent is wrong. All you have to prove is that your opponent is not right.