Thank You for Smoking is a DVD You Should See

The movie "Thank You for Smoking" is now available on DVD and it is definitely worth adding to your NetFlix list or taking a trip down to your local rental store or whatever it is you do to watch movies these days. If you want a movie that will repeatedly make you laugh out loud while also making you think with devastatingly biting writing and outstanding comedic performances than you need look no further than this movie. While much of this has to be slightly over-stated for comedic purposes you know that there is much truth hidden here.

"Thank You for Smoking" tells the story of Nick Naylor who is also known as the Sultan of Spin. He works for the big tobacco companies and he does what he can to spin the negative aspects of smoking and the detrimental effects of smoking into something positive. For example, in the opening scene as he sits next to a boy who is maybe sixteen and has been smoking since he was a pre-teen and is now dying of cancer he makes a surprisingly valid point. Why would big tobacco want to kill this young man? They are losing a customer. The anti-smoking people, however, want this boy to die because in his dying he furthers their cause. Now THAT'S spin.

Naylor meets regularly with two other lobbyists and they call themselves the MOD Squad. MOD stands for Merchants of Death. Maria Bello plays the lobbyist for the alcohol companies who dreads the fact that 60 Minutes is running a report about fetal alcohol syndrome. His other friend is played by David Koechner who is the lobbyist for the anti-gun control people. He, right now, is trying to deal with yet another disgruntles postal worker who has gone berserk and offed some of his co-workers. They meet, have dinner and discuss strategies and compare who has the larger death toll.