Film Review: Thank You for Smoking

Thank You for Smoking is a wryly funny satire about a Big Tobacco rep and lobbyist at the top of his game. ("My job requires a certain... moral flexibility.") As we meet Nick, he's going on a TV talk show to represent the Academy of Tobacco Studies (and winning over Cancer Boy on that show). Next, he's having drinks with two colleagues from the Firearms and Alcohol lobbies (they call themselves "The M.O.D Squad" for Merchants of Death).

The heart of the film is about Nick's relationship with his 12-year-old son, with whom he has shared custody with his ex. His son wants to know what his dad's job is really like, so Nick takes him to California on visits to a film agent (spot-on and very funny) and to bring a suitcase of cash as a bribe to the original Marlboro Man, dying of cancer.

Nick tells the son, "The beauty of an argument is, if you argue correctly you're never wrong." Persuasion and finesse practically ooze from every scene. Still, the first 1/3 feels a bit hokey, with set-pieces all in a row as he takes a few too many digs at the morally upright but awfully anti-charismatic anti-smoking lobbies, and we meet the asshole boss, frigid ex-wife, and mortified son when dad comes to parent-day at school.

But the latter 2/3 redeem the movie, as Nick tries to be a good father and makes the potentially career-damaging mistake of becoming sexually involved with a reporter who is doing a story on him. (When they meet she asks how he can live with himself. He gives what he calls "The Yuppie Nuremburg defense": he's got to pay the mortgage. He continues, "what would the world be like if everyone rented?") She goes on to use a tremendous amount of information against him in the article, and things don't look too promising for our man Nick.

This was originally a novel, by Christopher Buckley, which I may track down. Eventually.

Film Review: What Have I Done To Deserve This?

¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!! / What Have I Done To Deserve This? is probably one of Almodovar's more underrated films. I'd never heard of it, and if d. hadn't found it, I might have never seen it. What a shame. Terrific fun; with as many bizarre bits as "Women on the Verge". It's definitely not plot-driven, as we wander the streets of late 70s or early 80s Madrid.

Most of the film is set in the cacophonous apartment of Gloria, a cleaning-lady who sniffs cleaning products and is addicted to No-Doze; her husband Antonio is a cab-driver and a forger of Hitler papers. His mother lives with them; she and their elder son wander the parks and bring home odd things like sticks and lizards, dreaming of moving back to the old farm in the country. Finally, the younger son isn't around much because he's off sleeping with older men. Next door, we have Crystal, a prostitute who finds Gloria cleaning jobs and introduces Gloria and Antonio to a pair of alcoholics who want to forge Hitler's diaries.

Hm. What to say. If you liked any of Almodovar's other films, you'll likely enjoy this too.