Nick Naylor (
Aaron Eckhart), chief spokesman for Big Tobacco, makes his living defending the rights of smokers and cigarette makers in today's neo-puritanical culture. Confronted by health zealots out to ban tobacco and an opportunistic senator (
William H. Macy) who wants to put poison labels on cigarette packs, Nick goes on a PR offensive, spinning away the dangers of cigarettes on TV talk shows and enlisting a Hollywood super-agent (
Rob Lowe) to promote smoking in movies. Nick's newfound notoriety attracts the attention of both tobacco's head honcho (
Robert Duvall) and an investigative reporter for an influential Washington daily (
Katie Holmes). Nick says he is just doing what it takes to pay the mortgage, but he begins to think about how his work makes him look in the eyes of his young son Joey (
Cameron Bright).
Based on the novel by Christopher Buckley.
I finally got around to seeing this movie and thought it was fantastic. It's one of the smartest, funniest movies I've seen in years.
A terrific film with a great cast and a great script,
Political satire about the American Lobbyist/Big Corp/ vs Government/media control of the American population. The MOD squad (Messangers Of Death) lunch meetings are funny and the alternate ending makes the movie controversial. Gets ****`s.