Thank You for Smoking

The picture is obviously a satire, but it has no sharpness, no sense of daring.

Aiming at all targets and hitting none of them, the movie is as harmless and inconsequential as a candy cigarette.

There's enough bite in the dialogue and performances to provoke a hacking cough of approval, and the laugh-out-loud moments are many, not least in scenes featuring Rob Lowe's unctuous Hollywood agent.

Structural scrappiness aside, it remains a laudably amoral and superbly caustic comedy for those who like their satire strong and unfiltered.

As a clear-eyed dissection of the dirty business of public relations, where "if you argue correctly, you're never wrong", it is pretty much peerless.

Even the good lines here last a self-congratulatory beat too long.

Thank You for Smoking may have an uneven plot and its emotional message does go astray, but it is still a thought-provoking satire on the corporate world and human dilemmas within.

If we were to eliminate and outlaw everything that rubbed someone else’s morals the wrong way, we’d never be able to leave our homes, watch R-rated movies, or consume anything but tap water and a vegan diet.

A fast, bubbly satire that does full justice to the addictive Christopher Buckley novel it’s based on.

A hilarious, insightful, honest, and endearing film.