Out for a spin with the merchants of death

Sharp political satire and wicked humor fill the plot developments of “Thank You for Smoking.” Aaron Eckhart is perfectly cast as Nick Naylor, the slick spin doctor working as the public spokesman for big tobacco. He brings life and credibility to a very strange job. It requires him to convince Americans that being a merchant of death is an honorable and patriotic activity.

Robert Duvall is the practical tobacco kingpin who hires him to be the front man for the industry. Naylor’s understanding of the PR game is evident in the biting wit of his conversations with reporters, TV show hosts and Hollywood agents.

He is able to turn logic on its head and steamroll every opponent to neutralize anti-smoking campaigns. The defeated rivals include a Marlboro Man dying of lung cancer, played with baritone flair by Sam Elliot.

William H. Macy is the bumbling Vermont senator out to get Naylor. Rob Lowe and Katie Holmes have small but pointed supporting roles that fill out the excellent cast of characters. Ostensibly a parody about the tobacco lobby, this film really hooks much bigger fish.

We watch them all wriggle and squirm at the end of the fisherman’s line. It shows the subversive role that advertising, political donations and special interest money have on our government leaders. “Thank You for Smoking” is a troubling yet very funny commentary on the way things really work at the top.