Awesome Health Stuff | Fatal Vision Goggles | Falling Stars | Thank You for Smoking

Directed by Jason Reitman, this movie, Thank You for Smoking is a cynical yet satirical movie. The protagonist, Nick Naylor, is an attractive smooth-talker, and the vice-president of The Academy of Tobacco Studies. Getting past multiple oppositions, he and his son (whom he has brought with), discuss the beauty of argument, which Naylor almost always uses to persuade people that cigarettes are not always bad. There was a bill in the Senate that was trying to be passed—a skull and crossbones on a cigarette packaging. Naylor resolves to fight this bill later.

However, after all his successes, Nick Naylor finally stumbles when the back handlings and briberies of his company come to light, due to reporter Heather Holloway. It gives him bad press and he was publicly hated. In addition, he is also fired from his job. Naylor falls into a deep depression.

Yet, despite all these mishaps, Naylor finally appears in front of the Senate to fight the ‘skull and cross-bones’ bill. He offers an impressive speech and Naylor begins a successful negotiations firm that works to improve the image of scrutinized institutions.

I thought this was an extremely clever and cynical view on the other side of political plane. This portrays the logic of a tobacco company, and I found it extraordinarily interesting to see how they would manipulate it to blame the people who smoked, not the company that sold the cigarettes. It showed me a lot and it wasn’t the idealistic, sentimental ending that most movies are; it was a more realistic finish that completed a well-done movie. Smoking is ultimately the smoker’s decision, but I will admit it is also due to the company to a certain extent, of course. The movie was overall comical, intriguing, and surprisingly thought-provoking.