Thank You for Smoking
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: March 17, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
A sly, smart and very funny caricature of corporate politics and image culture. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Both sides of the political fence will feel royally skewered. All that's lacking is a warning from the Surgeon General: This film will make you laugh till it hurts. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The razor-sharp satire Thank You for Smoking is the wittiest dark comedy of the year thus far. It has appeal to all sides of the political spectrum. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
It's more fun than a turkey shoot. It's also one of the most entertaining riffs on American culture in years. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The first film in a long time with a true gift of gab. A lot of the time people actually talk fast in it. Its wisecracks actually crack wise. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Here is a satire both savage and elegant, a dagger instead of a shotgun. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Funny stuff. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Fierce, fast and funny. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Much like his father Ivan (Ghostbusters), first-time director Jason Reitman has a broad, anything-goes comedic sensibility that allows silly gags and incidental humor to sneak in alongside the satirical barbs. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Cynical and cheerily merciless. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A very smart and funny movie directed by Jason Reitman, who also shrewdly adapted the screenplay from Christopher Buckley's savagely satiric novel. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Snarky and enjoyable, but it could have been a ferocious black comedy. No Thank You For Playing It Safe. Read full review
75
PremiereGlenn Kenny
This is the kind of comedy that gives you two meaty underhanded jokes for every big obvious guffaw. It doesn't add up to much more than that, but there's no earthly reason why it ought to. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Eckhart is dazzling as a born phony. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
The movie is strangely demure in its attempts to be wild. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Like its protagonist, the movie is smart, soulless, glib, and utterly charming -- just the thing to warm up a movie season that's been late to bloom. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A glib satire with a slick surface, lots of snappy patter and nothing to sell but its own cleverness. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
In some ways, Thank You for Smoking does not bemoan smoking as much as it bemoans people's willingness to be duped by smooth-tongued orators. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
It's got a bust-out performance from Eckhart that's worth remembering. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Really a blistering satire about spin and the manipulation of the media. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The movie is amusing and clever but only skin deep. It lacks the acidity and rage of a satire such as "Network." Read full review
70
VarietyDavid Rooney
Playing a Big Tobacco lobbyist, Aaron Eckhart puts his golden news-anchor good looks and smooth conviction to better use than in any pic since his breakthrough film, "In the Company of Men." Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
As sleek, clever and cocky as its anti-heroic protagonist, Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), a hard-driving lobbyist for the tobacco industry who can turn the most unpromising PR quagmire to his own advantage with a few well-turned lies posing as rational argument. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Glibly funny and eager to please. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Of all the funny things in Thank You for Smoking, and there are many, the most striking is Robert Duvall's absolutely mirthless laugh.
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
As the substantially faithful movie version demonstrates, the story of Thank You for Smoking resides in that libertarian netherworld where the far left and the far right march shoulder to shoulder. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Thank You for Smoking is a nifty but slight movie. Some of the writing is obvious, and the dramatic structure is flimsy, if not downright arbitrary. But Eckhart, in a sure-handed performance, holds the picture together. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Despite its many strengths, Thank You for Smoking hovers around mediocrity, and its lasting impression is like a puff of smoke that is dissipated by a strong gust of wind. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Simon Houpt
A slick and star-studded comedy trumpeting a glib libertarianism that talks a good game but is as woolly headed as the liberalism fixed in its sights. Read full review
60
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Instead of hitting the gas and allowing the scenario to rock 'n' roll with g-forces, Reitman keeps his movie small, unvaried, slack, and deliberately and oddly, completely smoke-free. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
As a satire on Tobacco Inc.'s outrageous ability to market carbon monoxide as the elixir of life, this movie should be packing more nicotine. Read full review
60
SlateDavid Edelstein
To work onscreen, Thank You for Smoking needed to be fast, scruffy, and offhand. But even the good lines here last a self-congratulatory beat too long. Aaron Eckhart is likable, but he's too hangdog and naturalistic for a part that could have used a brisk young Jack Lemmon type. Read full review
60
Film ThreatJeremy Mathews
The film isn't as funny as the highly publicized conflict over the sell of its distribution rights might have you believe, but does contain a series of energized and entertaining performances that stop it from being a complete failure. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The chief problem with Thank You for Smoking, isn't that it's over the top; it's that it fits so neatly UNDER the top. Read full review
60
EmpireDan Jolin
A laudably amoral and superbly caustic comedy for those who like their satire strong and unfiltered. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
For a film that's ostensibly about modern American society's love affair with addictive behavior – sex, drugs, rock & roll – its bark is much worse than its bite. Read full review
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