See here Nic Cage, this is what I was hoping to see from you in Lord of War a few months ago.

It doesn't take much guts for Hollywood to lecture audiences on the evils of international arms smuggling, so don't blow smoke up our bums by making us feel guilty for rooting for the likable rogue like Cage, or in this case, Aaron Eckhart, a lobbyist for Big Tobacco. If you're going to make a satire, go all the way. So thank you, Thank You For Smoking.

	Know what'll make that dome shine? Menthol lotion.

You might say that this film is unfiltered, or smooth and refreshing. Tastes good like a cigarette should, as Barney used to say to Fred out behind the stone house during ads for Winston during breaks in "The Flintstones."

If you're going to caricature a proponent of near pure evil, don't wuss out and defend beer or pistols. As Eckhart says, he likes the challenge of cigarettes. "If you can do tobacco, you can do anything." That's why even his fellow Merchants of Death - Maria Bello (alcohol lobbyist) and David Koechner (guns), lose an argument comparing body counts and can only wish that they were notable enough to be threatened by vigilantes.

Eckhart's Nick Naylor is a masterful BS artist, and I heartily respect that. I count it among one of my favorable traits, in fact.

My favorite tests in high school and college were those full of essay questions. If you're unsure about a multiple-choice test, you only have a 1-in-4 chance of being right, and if it's fill-in-the-blank, well, you're screwed. But on an essay test, you can take all of the basic facts you know about a subject and stretch it to make the teacher believe you're an expert in the field.

As Naylor says to his son, "If you argue correctly, you're never wrong," no matter which side you take in a debate. Turn an argument so that you make the other person wrong, and you win, whether you're a lobbyist convincing an audience that Big Tobacco isn't to blame for a cancer-stricken teen or a defense lawyer getting a murderer off on a technicality.

Not that I have the smooth arrogance Naylor has in everyday situations. He doesn't hide it, either. "Know that guy who could pick up any girl? I'm him, on crack," he narrates in one of his many blunt statements that is more charming than standoffish.

Another reason to like Thank You For Smoking comes when William H. Macy shows up as the uptight anti-tobacco foil to Naylor's plans, and he's a Democrat! Senator Ortolan K. Finistirre, - a Vermont Democrat, no less, with bottles of syrup on his desk, a big cheddar sign on the wall and wearing Birkenstocks under desk - wants to put skull & crossbones on all packs with the word "poison," and then remove all traces of smoking from old films, which would be funny until you realize what Spielberg did taking out guns in his E.T. DVD edition.

Yes, sure, Finistirre is probably on the higher moral plane in real life, but this isn't that kind of movie, so we just want him to get figuratively smoked at the hearing in the end.

When Naylor goes to L.A. get the sex back into cigarettes on the silver screen and by someone other than Europeans or villains, he meets his morally flexible match in agent Rob Lowe. Even Big Tobacco can't compare to the shallow existence of the typical Hollywood toady.

Elsewhere in support, Sam Elliott is a former Marlboro Man who smoked Kools and has cancer; Katie Holmes is a distraction as a reporter (one wonders if her Scientologist handlers snipped some of the sex scenes); and Robert Duvall's "Captain" of the industry is like some antebellum plantation owner who says stuff like, "tobacco takes care of its own" as if he's some sort of tobacco mafia cartel boss.

None of them, however, overshadow Eckhart, who is delicious in the smarmy role, and makes this satire a delightful study in argumentative perspective. Nick Naylor is Bill O'Reilly's nightmare. There is nothing but the Spin Zone in the world of lobbyists, especially for merchants of death.

Oh sure, the filmmakers get a little serious, such as in Eckhart's relationship with his son (Cameron Bright), and the script has to interject a bit of morality to remind us that they aren't complete asses, but we don't want Eckhart to have a change of heart or feel bad about his job, and he doesn't.

The verdict: