Thank You for Smoking

An uneven, sinister comedy in which tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) travels the country and television shows trumpeting the virtues of cigarettes much to the chagrin of non-smokers. William H. Macy is funny as a liberal senator trying to defeat Naylor at every turn, while Maria Bello and David Koechner are really good as alcohol and firearm lobbyists who join Nick each week for a M.O.D (Merchants of Death) Squad lunch. The film has some weak stretches where the laughter diminishes and the rhetoric gets a bit overbearing, but Eckhart maintains the sort of nasty charm he put to good use with In the Company of Men (his best role prior to this one). Robert Duvall and Rob Lowe make funny cameos.