Thank You for SmokingMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 71 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 88
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Steven Rea

    Funny stuff. Read full review

  • 88
    New York Daily News | Jack 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
    Rolling Stone | Peter 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 Today | Claudia 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
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Here is a satire both savage and elegant, a dagger instead of a shotgun. Read full review

  • 83
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Cynical and cheerily merciless. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    A glib satire with a slick surface, lots of snappy patter and nothing to sell but its own cleverness. Read full review

  • 75
    Boston Globe | Ty 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

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk 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
    Wall Street Journal | Joe 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. Read full review

View more reviews for Thank You for Smoking on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Mostly clever comedy about lobbyists. For adults.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this film includes frequent use of the f-word (over 20 times). Lobbyists discuss their devious tactics and corrupt employers (firearms, alcohol, and Big Tobacco), comparing death tolls, diseases (fetal alcohol syndrome, cancer), and gruesome inspirations (the gun lobbyist was moved by the shootings at Kent State). Nick is kidnapped and covered with nicotine patches, landing in the hospital. Characters do not smoke on screen, but they do drink occasionally. Characters discuss sex and lust using slang; one sex scene. A primary theme suggests that lobbying is a form of lying to sell product and ideas.
  • Families can talk about Nick's relationship with his son Joey: How does the son challenge his dad's thinking? How does his admiration of his father make Nick question himself? How does the Marlboro Man serve as a kind of father figure for Nick, who sees in him a victim of the product he pitches?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Lobbyist defends his job as "talking for a living," arguing that he is only encouraging people to "think for themselves," but he is selling smoking; other members of the MOD squad discuss their selling of alcohol and firearms, noting the numbers who die from use of these products; senators are corrupt, as are the tobacco executives, and the reporter sleeps with Nick to get her story.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Bobby Jay's childhood flashback shows him with a firearm (he also describes his inspiration to support the NRA was hearing about the Kent State shootings; he wanted to be able to "shoot students"); TV image shows baby seal killed by whale; Sands of Iwo Jima scene shows John Wayne shot; Nick violently kidnapped and assaulted with nicotine patches.
  • sex false3 Sexy stuff: Sex scene, though shots frame bodies discreetly; multiple uses of the f-word to mean sexual activity.
  • language false5 Language: Frequent use of the f-word (over 20 instances); multiple s-words, as well as "crotch," "ass," "assh--e," "damn," and "hell," and several slang references to male genitals and female body parts.
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: Major theme is advertising (as lobbying is a form of spin and contributes to advertising); Coke; Vermont state products (syrup, cheese); mentions of Red Bull, Marlboro Man, Kool cigarettes, MSNBC, Ford cars, Newsweek, Washington Post.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Though all about the cigarette industry and lobbying, the film shows no smoking; characters drink in restaurant; the senator keeps liquor in his desk; the captain drinks mint juleps; jokey references to drugs (crack, Colombian dealer); Nick is hospitalized following an overdose of anti-smoking nicotine patches.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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