By all rights, this movie should make Aaron Eckhart a star, said Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times. He was great in Erin Brockovich and In the Company of Men, but this role 'œuses more facets of Eckhart than any has before.' As the morally corrupt but entirely charming tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor, Eckhart alternately offends and entertains, setting the tone for a brilliant black comedy. Unfortunately, the time lapse between Christopher Buckley's novel and the movie a dozen years later has presented some problems, said Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly. Since the '90s, the spin machine has become a bit too easy to skewer, making it difficult for writer-director Jason Reitman to keep his script relevant. Thus, 'œwhere Buckley's book is scathing about spin, Reitman's movie is, well, kinder.' It seems that liars are more easily forgiven these days. We've worn out another target too, said Peter Rainer in The Christian Science Monitor. 'œThe satire gets a bit far afield when Reitman brings Hollywood into the picture.' It may be funny for the L.A. crowd to make fun of the agents and power players that make up their world, but it's getting a little old for us regular folks.
Rating: R
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