Thank You For Smoking 2005

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: [Jason] Reitman makes an amazingly confident feature debut. Thank You for Smoking is funny stuff. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Reitman, still in his 20s, knows something that many more seasoned directors never figure out: how to make audiences laugh along with a film that's laughing at itself. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Besides being the best American comedy since The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Thank You For Smoking is the first film in a long time with a true gift of gab. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Thank You for Smoking is a glib satire with a slick surface, lots of snappy patter and nothing to sell but its own cleverness. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Aaron Eckhart is so good in his performance. Everybody's terrific. The writing is funny. And the directing is top-notch. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A smart-aleck satire with something on its mind is always welcome. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Thank You For Smoking has an unrelenting energy that never pauses for moral tongue-clucking. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's a lot of fun. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: 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. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: A very smart and funny movie. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The story of Thank You for Smoking resides in that libertarian netherworld where the far left and the far right march shoulder to shoulder. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Literate and smirky in its assault on liars and fools across the map. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Snarky and enjoyable, but it could have been a ferocious black comedy. No Thank You For Playing It Safe. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: The book had a fearlessness that the movie version so lacks. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: In the end, Nick and the world in which he traffics ends up a comic interpretation of a serious situation, and while the amoral ambiguity of the entire film is intriguing for a while, in the end you realize this patient has no pulse. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: [Thank You For Smoking is], for better and worse, as uniformly rolled as a machine-made Marlboro. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: To Reitman's credit, the director does not allow Thank You for Smoking to take the turn we would expect. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: A fun, smart film. But you can't help but wish Thank You would bare its fangs a little more. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Sleek, clever and cocky as its anti-heroic protagonist. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Reitman spares no one in this enjoyably cynical, merciless comedy, which is often so funny, you don't have time to notice how utterly bleak it is, too. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: These days, if one has to settle for rueful laughs honestly earned, then one can do a whole lot worse than Thank You for Smoking. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Even the good lines here last a self-congratulatory beat too long. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Reitman makes shrewd choices condensing the book, removing conspiracy subplots and adding a story line about the relationship between Nick and his son, Joey (Cameron Bright). Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: One of the most entertaining riffs on American culture in years. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: What makes the movie curiously timely is its emphasis on the process of spin as opposed to the moral content of what is being spun. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Deliciously nasty, naughty satire. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: 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. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Here is a satire both savage and elegant, a dagger instead of a shotgun. Thank You for Smoking targets the pro-smoking lobby with a dark appreciation of human nature. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The picture is obviously a satire, but it has no sharpness, no sense of daring. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: To watch the film is to feel the delicious discomfort of being seduced by a devilish charmer. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Simon Houpt, Globe and Mail: We know that cigarettes are dangerous for our health. The surprise is that, with a movie supposedly about freedom of thought, too much thinking can be dangerous for our superficial enjoyment. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It's a movie that isn't afraid to inhale, and to do so deeply. Read more

Jessica Winter, Time Out: Aiming at all targets and hitting none of them, the movie is as harmless and inconsequential as a candy cigarette. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: That quirky and intelligent rarity that elicits wry smiles and hearty laughs alike. Read more

David Rooney, Variety: An entertaining satire on contemporary morality that skewers corporate spin culture, political correctness and that most rhetorical of concepts in Bush's America, personal freedom. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: It's an under-flogged axiom of American business -- if only Jason Reitman's movie had more muscle in its whip arm. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Filtered too heavily with moral redemption. Read more