Film Review: Thank You For Smoking (2006) B

Date Viewed: 10/18/06
Venue: Universal Screening Room

Thank You For Smoking is an equal opportunity offender. This satire follows Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), the tobacco industry’s lead spinmeister, as he travels the country blowing public relations smoke, all the while trying to be a good father to his son. And you know what, he’s really good at both tasks.

The film (based on the novel by Christopher Buckley) works so well because it manages to be smart and funny. Jason Reitman’s (son noted comedy helmer Ivan) direction is best described as light on it’s feet, propelled by Nick’s razor sharp dialog and witty narration. Nick understands the occasional absurdness of his duties, all the while delivering his spin with unquestioned vigor, believing that with a strong argument, one can never be wrong.

Nick’s pro-tobacco travels take him and his son to California to deal with kooky mega-agent Jeff Megall (Rob Lowe), pay off the cancer-ridden Marlboro Man (Sam Elliot), and back to Washington D.C. to fend off a pesky senator (William H. Macy). Nick also manages to get involved with an inquisitive reporter (Katie Holmes).

This is a busy 92 minutes; everything flies by at a nice clip. But I think I’m most impressed by it’s take-no-prisoners approach. The script and characters are very politically incorrect, but there’s no liberal or conservative message. The film plays both sides beautifully and sharply.

I do take issue with a more sinister subplot involving Nick’s kidnapping by the anti-tobacco lobby. It feels truncated compared to the film’s other storylines, and its darker undertones don’t jive with the rest of the picture. Either more resolution or simply dropping it entirely might’ve improved things.

In the end, I enjoyed Thank For You Smoking quite a bit for it’s zany cast of characters and brisk pacing, but I most enjoyed it for Aaron Eckhart’s smarmily charming spin-control. He carries the film with smooth confidence that may be rewarded come award season.

Film Review: The Last King Of Scotland (2006) B

Date Viewed: 10/17/06
Venue: Universal Screening Room

The Last King Of Scotland is a fictionalized account of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's very brutal and very real rule in the 1970s. While Amin (Forest Whitaker) is the film's focus, we follow Dr. Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), a young Scottish doctor who comes to Africa for adventure and winds up personal physician to a madman.

The story follows young Garrigan, a Scotsman just out of medical school. Looking for adventure and a way to escape his dreadfully boring parents, he heads to Africa to work as sort of a missionary doctor in rural Uganda. He quickly has a chance run-in with the newly-in-power Amin, who offers the gregarious doctor a job as his personal physician.

Garrigan soon finds himself on the inside of Amin's corrupt and murderous government, advising a man who one day is as gentle as a kitten but the rages like a lion the next. As conditions worsen and assassination attempts upon Amin increase, Garrigan realizes he's in too deep and must try to get the hell out of Uganda...that is, if Amin will let him.

While its Garrigan we follow (he's in every scene), this is really Forest Whitaker's film. Amin is one minute warm, charismatic, and charming, the next calculating and intimidating. It's a juicy role to begin with, and Whitaker makes the most of it, delivering his finest performance to date.

The film is stylishly directed by Kevin MacDonald, who was also the mind behind the electric Three Days In September documentary (which covered the Israeli hostage crisis at the '72 Munich Olympics). The documentarian influence is strong will a lot of visceral handheld work throughout the film. Throw in some trippy editing, and the film oozes the Seventies through and through.

My biggest problem with The Last King Of Scotland is also its gutsiest creative choice. Dr. Garrigan is not the most likeable guy on the planet. He's a selfish ass looking for excitement (in all its forms) who thinks with his dick and continually gets into bad situation after bad situation. However he is effectively our main character. He's in every single scene. But after awhile, I started actually rooting for his eventual comeuppance. I realize this is intentional in some ways. Gullibly self-serving and short-sighted, Garrigan is a cipher for the West's colonization and exploitation of Africa.

This is a solid film with anchored by a spectacular, Oscar-worthy performance by Forest Whitaker. The remaining elements succeed in telling a textured, depressing tale. But I just can't unconditionally love a film with such a misguided main character.