Thank You For Smoking vs The Weather Man

As a satire, or even a dark comedy, Thank You for Smoking has its work cut out for itself with me as a viewer, because a.) I root for the bad-guy all the time anyway; b.) I’m pretty mean-spirited and sarcastic to start with, and c.) I like smokers. I even like second-hand smoke.

And so Thank You for Smoking takes a different route, one that hooks the cynics and the smokers: it’s got a main character you actually give a damn about. Oh, and in case you were worried, Thank You for Smoking is a brutally funny dark comedy.

Thank You for Smoking was directed by Jason Reitman who could probably have given this a more trendy or ironic visual style, but has decided instead upon a blend of clever freeze-frames, subtitles and voice-overs, reminiscent of nothing else more than Arrested Development, which is fine by me.

Thank You for Smoking stars Aaron Eckhart as Nick Naylor, a lobbyist for Big Tobacco. He’s sort of reprehensible, and completely unapologetic, but he’s charming and thinks on his feet, so we pay attention to him. He’s ambushed on the Joan Lunden show by being seated next to a kid with cancer during a debate on smoking, but somehow comes out a winner anyway. We soon begin to like him as well, because we see that he’s a pretty good dad (well, okay, he’s sort of not a good dad at all, but he’s a cool dad, and if you don’t have kids, you think that’s better), and he’s got a couple friends who count on him not changing. His friends are lobbyists for alcohol and firearms (Maria Bello and David Koechner, given little to do besides eat and nod, but Bello is especially sharp as usual); they meet each week for lunch and to compare notes on things like whose cause kills the most Americans each year. Nick’s winning, if you were wondering.

It’s not like he doesn’t have to work for it. Besides Joan Lunden, he’s got a Vermont Senator (William H. Macy) trying to pass a bill that would require a skull and crossbones on every pack of cigarettes, a boss (J.K. Simmons) who bullies Nick and takes credit for his work, an eye-rolling ex-wife, a former Marlboro Man (brilliantly cast, but unrevealed here), and a sneaky, flirty reporter played by Katie Holmes. There’s also a brief scene with a Hollywood movie producer played by Rob Lowe, whom I’ve never enjoyed as much as I did here. Nick wants to get cigarettes into a major Hollywood movie; Lowe’s strategy for making this happen are so ridiculous they must have been taken verbatim from an actual pitch meeting. Perhaps the one that put Dr. Pepper in Mission to Mars? Eckhart is sort of a Jeff Bridges in training. He might not make that many movies, but he’s so good I find myself watching other, non-Aaron Eckhart movies and wishing he was in them, like Constantine, or maybe one of those bullshit movies about inspirational coaches.

Throughout Thank You For Smoking, Nick must contend with raising his son, Joey (Cameron Bright), a curious, impressionable boy who looks up to his dad but is well aware of the hatred other people have for him. Joey is along for the Hollywood trip, and the visit to the Marlboro Man—a vacation he scored when his dad taught him the difference between negotiation and argument. The father/son moments are truly what holds Thank You For Smoking together. They give us a Nick Naylor who is a real guy, who needs us to buy cigarettes so he can raise his son for a better tomorrow. Children are the future, you know.

It’s funny how big a difference a little confidence makes. David Spritz has a job that requires even more spin and deception than tobacco lobbyist, plus he’s got an angry ex-wife, a demanding boss and a troubled child. David Spritz is a weather man, and I wish that poor guy could have lunch with Nick Naylor. Might learn a thing or two.

Nicolas Cage plays David Spritz in The Weather Man. It’s one of Cage’s in-between projects, meaning his hair is believable, I cared about his character, and the plot is not completely comprehensible just by reading the tag line on the poster. You actually have to see The Weather Man to understand it, but you’ll be glad you did.

David Spritz lives in Chicago, and he’s despised. It’s winter, so of course the weather is going to be bad, but unless Spritz is exactly right in his forecast, he gets pelted on the street by tacos, milkshakes and nuggets. Spritz isn’t even a meteorologist; he gets his news from advisers and databases and probably other weather forecasters. He’s really just an on-air personality, which is funny, since he’s such a downer in real life. His ex-wife has barely a feeling left for him, and his kids are growing more awkward by the second. His daughter, especially, is a problem. David tries in vain to find something for them to bond on, mistakenly thinking it might be archery (it’s not).

David’s father (Michael Caine) is exactly the father you’d expect him to have: demanding, disappointed, entitled. David regards him as more of a father-in-law than a father. During a “living funeral”, David attempts to salute his dad with Like a Rock, but a power-outage leaves him with a confusing, half-finished eulogy. God, I hope no one plays Bob Seger at my funeral. Unless there’s a keg, and then it’s understandable.

The Weather Man is such an underrated movie. I don’t know anyone who saw it in a theater, which is sad, because I don’t know anyone who didn’t see director Gore Verbinski’s previous three movies in theaters, and they don’t have half the heart, intelligence or wit present in nearly every scene of The Weather Man. Cage has limitless potential opposite actors like Michael Caine and Hope Davis, and his spin on the browbeaten, nervous, pessimistic weather man results in one of his best performances, period.

Thank You for Smoking and The Weather Man, aside from a tonal difference and the voices of the leading characters (each of which supplies surprisingly effective narration) are nearly identical movies. They’re about men in jobs they’re tired of apologizing for. They’re about men doing the best they can with delicate family situations. Most importantly, they’re movies about fed-up men with easy access to firearms.

Thank You For Smoking: A
The Weather Man: A