Trader47
04-08-2006, 02:41 PM
This one's kind of a rarity...a full blown satire that hits every nail squarely on the head and works completey from start to finish. At it's center is Aaron Eckhart, giving a really great performance as a tobacco industry lobbyist, gleefully remorseless as he battles smarmy hypocritical politicians, nasty self serving reporters, cancer victims, gradeschool kids, and self-righteous terrorists in his never ending quest to keep the world safe for corporate greed and pay his mortgage. Backing him up, there are a number of excellent bit performances by notable stars...my favorites are William H. Macy as a smarmy senator bravely trying to push his agenda down everyone's throat and have packs of cigarettes labeled with large pictures of a skull & crossbones, and Sam Elliott as the former Marlboro man, now dying of cancer.
But it's Eckhart who has to carry this one, and his spin doctor is fascinating throughout. He understands human nature so completely, he can sell his points without telling lies...he simply manipulates truth, using other's hypocrisy and muddle-headedness to his own advantage, while refusing to be anything but upfront about his own. And his complete acceptance of who he is, both unrepentant and unapologetic, affords him a sort of dogged integrity. In one of his regular conversations with two people he refers to as his only true friends, lobbyists for the alcohol and firearms industries respectively, (they call themselves the MOD squad, for Merchants Of Death, lol) he refers to himself as the most hated man in America, but there's not an ounce of self pity in the assertion...a tiny bit of resignation, maybe...but even that, I think, far outweighed by a sense of fullfillment and self-satisfaction at a job well done, LOL.
And ironically, Eckhart's unaffected charm and ability to use logic and truthspinning to hoist almost everyone on their own petards, in actuality makes it very difficult to hate him at all...in fact, I think it's the real triumph of his performance, and of this film, that in the end, you might completely disapprove of him, but it's almost impossible not to find yourself liking and pulling for him, LOL. Watching this guy in action, I was left with the observation that it's unfortunate for most of today's real life politicians and corporations that they seem to be incapable of finding spin doctors who can do their jobs with anything approaching his charm, logic and general effectiveness....unfortunate for them, lucky for us, LOL.
Overall, I may have made this sound like one of those bleak satires that make you feel more like committing hari kari at the conclusion than laughing...but, while it IS definitely a take-no-prisoners style of gallows humor, it's way too much fun to be depressing. It's quietly funny and entertaining throughout, with enough big belly laughs to make it really difficult for me to avoid posting a few. I'll reluctantly refrain though, at least for now, LOL....you'll have to see for yourself, and whoever 'you' may be, I hope you do, and have as good a time as I did if so. :D
But it's Eckhart who has to carry this one, and his spin doctor is fascinating throughout. He understands human nature so completely, he can sell his points without telling lies...he simply manipulates truth, using other's hypocrisy and muddle-headedness to his own advantage, while refusing to be anything but upfront about his own. And his complete acceptance of who he is, both unrepentant and unapologetic, affords him a sort of dogged integrity. In one of his regular conversations with two people he refers to as his only true friends, lobbyists for the alcohol and firearms industries respectively, (they call themselves the MOD squad, for Merchants Of Death, lol) he refers to himself as the most hated man in America, but there's not an ounce of self pity in the assertion...a tiny bit of resignation, maybe...but even that, I think, far outweighed by a sense of fullfillment and self-satisfaction at a job well done, LOL.
And ironically, Eckhart's unaffected charm and ability to use logic and truthspinning to hoist almost everyone on their own petards, in actuality makes it very difficult to hate him at all...in fact, I think it's the real triumph of his performance, and of this film, that in the end, you might completely disapprove of him, but it's almost impossible not to find yourself liking and pulling for him, LOL. Watching this guy in action, I was left with the observation that it's unfortunate for most of today's real life politicians and corporations that they seem to be incapable of finding spin doctors who can do their jobs with anything approaching his charm, logic and general effectiveness....unfortunate for them, lucky for us, LOL.
Overall, I may have made this sound like one of those bleak satires that make you feel more like committing hari kari at the conclusion than laughing...but, while it IS definitely a take-no-prisoners style of gallows humor, it's way too much fun to be depressing. It's quietly funny and entertaining throughout, with enough big belly laughs to make it really difficult for me to avoid posting a few. I'll reluctantly refrain though, at least for now, LOL....you'll have to see for yourself, and whoever 'you' may be, I hope you do, and have as good a time as I did if so. :D