History Film / ThankYouForSmoking

* AcceptableTargets: InUniverse, when the movie producer tells Nick that only three kinds of people still smoke in the movies nowadays: [[FunWithAcronyms RAVs]], [[DirtyCommies Russians]], [[UsefulNotes/TheWarONTerror Arabs]], and [[GoodSmokingEvilSmoking Villains.]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Senator Feinstein, I mean, Finistirre

** JerkassHasAPoint: However, she (and Brad) are right in that Nick does not seem to stop smoking when with Joey. [[spoiler:Later, she brings Joey to Nick just after he suffered his TraumaCongaLine.]]

* SouthernGentleman: The Captain gives off this vibe with his white suit, Southern accent, and many riches. The PoliticallyIncorrectVillain [[CorruptHick angle]] is also subtly hinted. All his waiters? Black.

* HerrDoctor: Dr Meisenbach. In the movie, his name is the hilarious Dr. Erhardt Von Grupten Mundt, who could "disprove gravity".

''Thank You for Smoking'' is a 1994 novel written by Christopher Buckley and 2005 [[BlackComedy dark comedy]] film directed by Creator/JasonReitman and starring Creator/AaronEckhart and Creator/WilliamHMacy.

-->'''Bobby:''' Even ''[[AmericanGunPolitics I]]'' think that's kind of cruel...

-->'''Bobby'': She has big tits.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: At the climax, BJ admits that everyone he works with ''loved'' the "[[AppropriatedAppelation Merchants of Death]]" moniker, to the point of getting bumper stickers printed off.

** Joey himself seems to be learning from his father, as he able to get him mom to let him go to Los Angeles.

* DrinkOrder: The Captain and mint juleps. [[spoiler: Nick puts a glass on his grave]].

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* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: BR.
** Only in the film, where after his tours in Vietnam, "everyone who knows what it means are all dead". In the book, his real name, Budd Rohrenbacher, is mentioned once as an aside; people simply call him BR for simplicity rather than NoNameGiven.

* SouthernGentleman: The Captain gives off this vibe with his white suit, Southern accent, and many riches. The PoliticallyIncorrectVillain [[CorruptHick angle]] is also subtly hinted; all his waiters? Black.

* WallBangHer: Nick and the hot reporter.

* LittlestCancerPatient: "And where in the hell did you find Cancer Boy? ... When you're looking for a cancer kid, he should be hopeless! He should have a wheelchair, he should have trouble talking, he should have a little pet goldfish he carries around in a ziplock bag. Hopeless!"

''Thank You for Smoking'' is a 1994 novel written by Christopher Buckley and 2005 [[BlackComedy dark comedy]] film directed by Creator/JasonReitman and starring Aaron Eckhart and Creator/WilliamHMacy.

* AdaptationDistillation: The book and the movie are such substantially different animals that it's almost hard to believe anyone on the crew actually read the book (although the movie is still a worthy product in its own right: TropesAreNotBad). Many elements of the plot have been reduced, rearranged or cut out entirely, which creates a completely different narrative. There are too many examples to list here, but the biggest example is the kidnapping. In the book, it takes place at the beginning and is hugely important to the plot, and is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler: a plot by BR to get good publicity and get Nick out of the way, allowing Janette to take his place.]] In the movie, it takes place at the end and adds little to the plot, other than [[spoiler: making sure that Nick, a tobacco lobbyist, can never smoke again due to all the nicotine patches the kidnappers forced onto him.]]

* LastSupperSteal: In the OpeningMonologue, we see a shot of "sharks" placed around a table reminiscent of the last supper scene.

* PunchClockVillain: If you consider Nick to be a VillainProtagonist, he will be likely one of these.

* VillainProtagonist: Depending on your perspective on smoking. Nick Naylor is played straight as a classic protagonist in a Hero's Journey, despite being what many would consider a villain in the cigarette wars.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Despite working as a lobbyist for the cigarette industry, Nick's personal charm and charisma make him very popular among the general public.

* AntiVillain[=/=]AntiHero: Nick is a ruthless lobbyist for a product that poisons people... but he's such a cool, charming guy, you almost forget that.

* KarmicDeath[=/=]DeathByIrony: Inverted [[spoiler:when some anti-tobacco activists kidnap Nick and try to overdose him on Nicotine Patches, it's his lifetime of smoking that gave him the resistance to fight it. It does become a CoolAndUnusualPunishment though, as he can never smoke again on pain of death.]]

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: BR

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Arguing for an industry that is seen as a killer doesn't make you very popular. [[ReconstructedTrope Nick more or less accepts this]] and it makes his job more rewarding when he succeeds.

'''Nick''': ''(Pointing to the passers-by)'' Yeah, but I'm not after you. I'm after ''them''.\\