Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Benjamin's Stash: Video Pick of the Week

      Hello, readers. This week a little film with a packed all-star cast called Prisoners opens up this weekend in theaters. This week's pick will be devoted to one of the stars and it was actually a bit difficult to decide on which one to go with consider the number of quality films each performer has done already. I already did a pick for Hugh Jackman earlier this summer when The Wolverine came out. I could've gone with Zodiac featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, The Fighter featuring Melissa Leo, The Help with Viola Davis, or Little Miss Sunshine with Paul Dano. In the end, I decided on another film featuring a star-studded cast that reminds me of a time, prior to the Grown Ups films, when Maria Bello films were worth watching. It also marked the feature film debut of a man whose father had already carved out quite an iconic filmmaking legacy in comedy.


      "Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everyone has a talent." In Thank You for Smoking, Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the smooth-talking vice president of a tobacco lobby known as the "Academy of Tobacco Studies". During the day, Naylor defends the tobacco industry on TV, in public, and at his son's school for Career Day. He also, once a week, has dinner with two of his friends - Bobby Jay Bliss (David Koechner), a firearms lobbyist and Polly Bailey (Maria Bello), an alcohol lobbyist. Together they form what they jokingly refer to as the "Merchants of Death", aka "The MOD Squad". Nick's toughest challenge though comes in the form of Vermont Senator Ortolan K. Finistirre (William H. Macy), who has proposed new legislation that would require tobacco companies to place a skull and crossbones POISON warning on all cigarette packaging. Meanwhile, Nick also finds himself seduced by the young and ambitious reporter Heather Holloway (Katie Holmes), who is doing an expose on him.

      This was the feature length film debut of Jason Reitman, the son of Ivan Reitman, who has directed such comedy classics as Meatballs, Stripes, Ghostbusters, Twins and the underrated Dave. What a way for Jason to start his career out with a film like Thank You for Smoking (which he also adapted the screenplay for based on Christopher Buckley's novel of the same name). The writing here is sharp, witty, hilarious and handles a topic such as smoking in a way that doesn't demonize either side, but doesn't straddle the fence indecisively either. Most people would normally hate someone like Nick Naylor, but his character is so charming and likeable you can't help but like him. He's just doing what he's paid to do, which like any lobbyist, is to sell spin, and he's damn good at it. Eckhart's performance is near award level here and it further cemented him as a leading man in film. It's not just Eckhart either. You got the legendary Robert Duvall, Sam Elliott, William H. Macy, Rob Lowe, Katie Holmes, Maria Bello, and the criminally underrated character actor J. K. Simmons (who has, easily, my favorite line of the film: "We sell cigarettes and they're cool, they're available and they're addictive... The job's almost done for us.") all turning in strong supporting work. No matter what side of the "smoking" fence you are on, you'll find yourself laughing non-stop from the moment the film starts. If not, whatever, you can sulk and watch those Truth commercial ads all day. Reitman's sharp script and direction put his name on the map. With later films such as Juno and Up in the Air that followed, Thank You for Smoking showed he was just getting warmed up.

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