Nick Naylor is a big-toothed, square-jawed spin-doctor for Big Tobacco, a job he loves. Aaron Eckhart gives an amusing performance in Thank You For Smoking as the amoral and manipulating character, based on a book by Christopher Buckley. He relishes in keeping lung cancer ridden men quiet and slickly confusing classes of children into making up their own minds about cigarettes by trying them out themselves. It’s not paying the mortgage that drives him though – rather he is a sucker for a challenge and a good debate.

Just as unhindered by ethics is Naylor’s aggressive boss B.R, played by J.K Simmons, who constantly on the lookout for ways to get more people addicted to cigarettes. He doesn’t hesitate to bawl out his minions for falling cigarette sales; “they’re cool, available and addictive. The job is almost done for us.”

Written and directed by newcomer Jason Reitman, Thankyou For Smoking does not stop at canvassing the morally ambiguous nature of the tobacco industry – it exposes the hypocrisy of advocates as well. William H Macy plays senator Ortolan Finistirre who is so tough on smoking that in one scene he chastises his assistant for not picking a more reliable and sickly looking cancer victim to appear on a talk-show sitcom.

The media also cops a beating when Katie Holmes’s character Heather Holloway, an investigative journalist, does most of her research in Naylor’s bed. Also the film industry’s product placement agreements are satirised when Naylor brokers a deal with an important Hollywood agent (Rob Lowe) to get cigarettes as staple props in the movies again. Adam Brody of OC fame also makes a brief but amusing appearance as an assistant to the agent – his character’s quirky, overly enthusiastic manner and rapid speech are captivating in his few scenes.

The MOD squad, as in merchants of death, deliver some of the best laughs. The group consists of Naylor and his two best friends Bobby Jay (David Koechner) who works for the gun lobby and Polly (Maria Bello) who represents the liquor industry. The three meet weekly, often to compete over whose employer holds the highest death toll.

The rich burgundies and off yellow colours of many of the vintage style sets carry the tobacco motif well, to the point where the characters in the film don’t actually need to be shown smoking.

Thank You For Smoking is an enjoyable film; it doesn’t present a moral stance but rather a freedom of choice through the depiction of every party to the smoking debate as somewhat ridiculous.