'Thank You For Smoking' Burns Up With Laughs

"Thank You For Smoking" is a smart satire that doesn't insult its audience's intelligence -- a rarity these days when satire often just means making fun of your subject and making them look foolish.

In this film, it is the supposed good guys who are left looking foolish and calculating, and we are left marveling at how there really are two sides to every argument.

The movie, adapted from Christopher Buckley's 1994 book, stars Aaron Eckhart as Big Tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor. Not since he starred in the cruel battle-of-the-sexes film "In The Company of Men" has Eckhart had a role this meaty and suited to the unique glint in his eye.

Nick's job is to filter the cigarette companies' image and defend people's right to choose if they want to smoke or not.

He even goes as far as getting a Hollywood super agent (Rob Lowe) to help him get smoking back into the movies again, and paying off a cowboy (Sam Elliot) who was once the advertising spokesman for cigarettes before he got lung cancer.

When Nick spins gold for his bosses on a talk show by running rings around an anti-smoking flack representing Sen. Ortolan K. Finistirre (William H. Macy), he catches the attention of Big Tobacco's top dog, The Captain (Robert Duvall), and an ambitious and alluring reporter (Katie Holmes).

The bite of the film is blunted a bit by the side story of Nick's struggle with how to explain to his adoring son what Dad does for a living. But the relationship is what grounds the film in a basic humanity.

The best moments of the film are when Nick gets together for drinks with two other lobbyists representing alcohol and firearms. Calling themselves the MOD (Merchants of Death) Squad, the trio's competitive spirit even extends to whose product kills the most people every year. It's creepy, but it is also hard to keep from laughing.

If first-time feature director Jason Reitman seems to have a knack for ironic comedy, he comes by it naturally. According to his bio, Reitman was 11 days old when he was on his first film set -- the set of "Animal House," produced by his father, Ivan Reitman.

But Jason Reitman makes his own kind of comedy and he was really smoking when he cast Eckhart. From character actors to well-known Hollywood stars, the cast chugs along like a well-oiled engine, treading the delicate wire between acting and overacting.

It may not make you want to go outside the movie theater for a cigarette, but "Thank You For Smoking" does satisfy your yen for a good yarn with plenty of laughs.