Say Hi to the Bad Guys

Cinematic review the third:

Thank You For Not Smoking

I love a good villain. Good villains, to me, are absolutely essential to a good story. No matter how compelling the protagonist is, if the villain is flat and clichéd, the story rarely rises above mediocrity. Think Neo and The Matrix. Let’s be fair - - Neo had no personality. He had incredible powers and cool outfits, but….yeah, that’s about it. Now, set him against Smith – indomitable, charismatic, and mechanically sinister. Someone who revels in their villainy, someone who chews the scenery and dominates every frame their in. Now you’ve got a story.

Now picture an entire movie populated by Smiths. The protagonist, Nick Naylor, is a villain. Everyone he works for is a villain. Everyone he associates with is a villain. And, to be honest, everyone that opposes him is a villain.

Nick Naylor is the top lobbyist for the tobacco companies. He loves his job. He knows cigarettes are deadly, and, well, he just doesn’t mind. He pushes the product on television, in Washington, even on career day in his son’s grade school classroom. He’s not evil; he’s good at what he does, and he firmly believes in what he does. He sees himself like a lawyer who represents criminals -- everyone's entitled to a defense, and he's the best at defending the indefensible.

More than that, he’s a likeable guy. Charismatic to no end, which serves him well in arguing any point. He believes in freedom of choice, and he believes it’s not a right and wrong issue. These are the values he preaches to his impressionable son, and to a disbelieving public, which perceives him to be the devil incarnate.

All of which makes for brilliantly subversive entertainment. For instance, he goes on a talk show, facing off against three people who represent education and health care, plus “Cancer Boy,” the sympathetic young boy who is bald from chemo after having smoked most of his life. Nick is all alone in the lions' den. So he says that cigarette companies aren’t the bad guy – they don’t want this kid to die. After all, a dead kid can’t buy his product. Crass, but logical. Then he says the health care guy wants the kid to die, because then his funding will increase. Therefore, Nick reasons, the health care guy ought to be ashamed of himself.

This exemplifies the humor of this movie - - I’m laughing my ass off, and at the same time, I’m horrified. So many terrible people, so many brilliantly subversive lines.

Nick goes and meets with his company, led by actor JK Simmons, who portrays the love-to-hate newspaper mogul Mr. Jameson in the Spiderman movies. He’s just as awful here, bitching about how terrible the people that oppose big tobacco are and how they need to make cigarettes sexy and cool again. He mentions environmentalists, and the word “Pussies” flashes briefly on the screen. I love it.

From here, Nick goes on a virtual tour of villainy, meeting with characters played by Robert Duvall and Rob Lowe, both perfectly cast, both horrible and funny. The best may be the “MOD Squad” meetings between Nick, the head lobbyist for alcohol companies, and the head lobbyist for firearm companies. The title “MOD Squad” is self-given, as they refer to themselves as “Merchants of Death,” and have regular lunch dates. This is ingeniously subversive, particularly where Nick, whose product kills far more people than either of theirs, makes them feel inadequate, at one point asking the firearms guy (David Koechner, also perfectly cast) what, his products only kill 30 people a day? “Oooh, that’s tragic.” And once again, I die laughing.

Of course, the “good guy” in this movie – a US Senator and fierce opponent of tobacco (played by William H Macy) – is only a marginally better person, and only by comparison. So, really, it’s bad guys, bad guys everywhere. The beauty of this movie is just that - - we’re watching a cast full of villains, doing their evil deeds, and loving every minute. The script is razor sharp, and doesn’t exactly demonize either side, so it doesn’t come across as mere propaganda. Mostly, it’s funny because it’s true.

My Score: A-
Recommendation: A refreshing change of pace from most movies, I’d recommend it to anyone who likes their humor painful and their villains villan-ey