Thank you for smoking

Je n’ai jamais vraiment eu envie de voir ce film, mais quand ma copine me l’a proposé, je me suis dit que je ne me laisserais pas guider par mes préjugés. Néanmoins, mes présomptions se sont avérées exactes. Il s’agit encore d’une connerie amerloque, qui surprend par le fait que c’est un Canadien qui l’a réalisée. Aaron Eckhart dans le rôle du héros central s’affiche et se comporte en orateur d’exception qui comprend tout parfaitement, sauf que ses propos sont nuls, pathétiques et embarrassants. L’ensemble est juste barbant et fade et le thème central est essentiellement futile : les gens ont fumé la clope, la fument et la fumeront et aucune pub antitabac ne les arrêtera. Il est vrai qu’un certain recul est notable dans plusieurs séquences, mais pour moi, ça ne les rend pas meilleures. Je suis content que Jason Reitman ait tourné Juno, parce que je trouve que ça lui a beaucoup mieux réussi. (17/01/2010)

The phenomenal Aaron Eckhart could even make you think that smoking cigarettes is actually a healthy thing. Unfortunately, director Reitman spends the entire ninety minutes flitting between the political correctness of a hot topic and a family melodrama about model fatherhood. If it had thirty extra minutes and a more integral directorial lead who could have been more "loose" would have only helped the film. Then it would have been an absolute hit. Andrew Niccol poked at a similar theme much more vigorously, boldly, and, above all, engagingly. It’s not at all bad for a debut and the promising signs of interesting talent are definitely there. Keep it up! (04/02/2007)

Finally a film that has some class. It's full of intelligent arguments and quality jokes from the start. Aaron Eckhart is unflappable and handles his role with aplomb. He didn't convince me to smoke, but I found his performance very likeable. The second half of the film is a little weaker, but still deserves a full rating. (01/05/2011)

Nick doesn’t lie or try to hide the truth... He just filters it. An (a)morally flexible picture not unlike Lord of War. Eckhart is maturing with each new movie he appears in and Jason Reitman confirmed with his (commercial) debut that he is a director that knows how to work with difficult topics intelligently and very comically and it doesn’t matter at all that the picture is a mere revue of scenes steeped in black humor and satire. (22/09/2006)

Very funny and imaginatively directed in places, especially in the opening, when we are introduced to lobbyist Nick Naylor (the utterly brilliant Aaron Eckhart) as the "embodiment of cigarettes" in an irresistibly black and humourless sequence that approximates the number of victims of tobacco addiction. Guaranteed to amuse, too, are the apt observations about the now-fashionable curses on smoking in contemporary Hollywood ("These days, when someone smokes in the movies, they're either a psychopath... or a European."). Even at the very end, Reitman elegantly gets away with moralising that smoking may be "bad", but it is up to each of us to choose. But still, in the end, only 3 stars, albeit very strong. Despite a promising start in the opening 20 minutes, the film has too many deaf spots and unfinished scenes, which is a shame, because such a hot topic is ripe for a complete explosion of politically incorrect, sarcastic humour, of which there is woefully little. Still, the "Ghostbuster" can be proud of his son, I think there is a great talent growing here. (30/09/2006)