Thank You For Not Smoking, Kenny!

After a slow and easy-does-it day of sun and small errands in my universe and a manic 'server-that-is-essential-to-the-entire-network-and-makes-evertying-work-cracking-the-sads-
and-just-evaporating-into-virtual-space' type day in the whirlwind life of computer nerd Matchu Pichu, we thought we'd head to the Nova to see the Australian comedy Kenny
and emerse ourselves in shitty puns and a story filled to the rim with toilet hula.
After slightly agitated and sarcastic snaps were exchanged about "how my watch may be fast but at least its not slow" from me and with Match Pichu rightly defending his emaculate ability to be punctual we approched the box office dood* at 7:13 (movie started at 7:15).

me: Ah, can we get two...what are we seeing again?

M.P: Kenny.

me: Yes. 2 to Kenny please

Dood: Sorry Kenny is sold out for the 7:15 session.

*short in take of breathe and remembered why my clocks are set fast*

We scurried out of the line, reconviened and the approached the other dood at box office, the one with the bandana, (we all know the one, the surly guy who acts as cheap ass Mondays only ever attracts fuck wits and arts students and they're pretty much the same thing anyway)

me: Ah, can we have two tickets to see...um..what did we --

MP: thank you for smoking.

me: right. yes. 2 tickets to--

dood: thank you for smoking.

So Movie Club this week was not Kenny as advertised, instead it was Thank You for Smoking, becuase we're just such wild children who live on the edge and fly by the seat of pants.

Unbeknownst to us movie club was attended by more than just me and my boyfriend this week. Cherry Clubber Claire (or CCs as she will be hense be known even though I have never met the poor girl) and co-founder Tim Arch were also being thanked for smoking, due to a late arrival for Kenny and finding the next best substitute. Inches, blinks, blatant ignorance, indolence and typical Stolz self involvement were the key factors in our missed paths and parted company.

Thank You for Not Smoking was fine, good, ok. All those kind of non-descript words you use when you can't swoon about a movie and rattle on about its brilliance nor spit vitrolic verse about how the lack of plot strcuture in ACT2 made you physically repulsed. It just lamely sits gentley and unobtrusively in the middle, in the luke warm water that feels like someone had peed in it: it can be uncomfortable if you think about it too long but strangely pleasant and soothing otherwise.

MP liked it a lot. I was not as taken with it. Look its not bad. At all. It just doesn't grab you. The humour at times is worthy of spontaneous and involuntary cackleing (which was demonstrated quite nicely by myself and the women behind me) but at other times it seemed a little deliberate. (did I change tense half way thorugh this sentence?)

The story is loose in its structure as each event appears to be leading somewhere but doesn't eventuate into any real drama (by drama I mean events that hold tension and interest as they unfold. not drama as in yelling and screaming).

William H. Macey is always great at what he does, he just does what does a lot. He is an interesting perfomer becuase of the undeniable pathos he manages to inflect in his characters despite them being a bit dicky. Nice to see Todd Louiso again so soon (High Fidelity and Snakes on a Plane). I think he has been typed cast in a similar way that William H Macey has been (look type casting is not a bad thing it has a lot to do with how we read and interpret films...I'm just mentioning the obvious here thats all...didn't complete 3 years of study for nothing ya know) but is always entertaining none the less.

The anti hero is always a character which is difficult to construct and its difficult for them to carry an entire film. With this in mind and the fact that the lead character Nick Naylor learns pratically nothing and his character arc is small if existent at all, Aaron Eckhart has developed a complete and quite human character.

There are a few stylistc and genre issues for me. By placing a corporate, successful anti-hero in the middle of a new-arthouse (quirky, usually suburban domestic character driven drama; a genre characterised by Wes Andersen films) doesn't quite fit cause because of the characters that inhabit this genre of film. Ordinary beyond normal; living slightly on the exterior of their social setting; despondancy and shyness are traits of the characters which usually inhabit these films. These traits are what make these characters awkward but human. Although it maybe an interesthing experiement, the mixture of anti-hero and new arthouse means that you dont end up caring that much about Nick or what happens to him. The final courtroom scene didn't rouse emotions, the intellect or anything in between these two realms all that much, the way the story structure sort of insinuates that it should. The scene is saved by Macey's line:

"Vermont will not apologise for its cheese"

The film, in summery after such a long winded essay entitled "What I thought of Thank You for Smoking", feels like writer/director Jason Reitman wrote the film from his head not his heart. It definately has some clever ideas, worthy of pursuit but the characters don't live and breathe they are only vessels for Rietman's intellectual ideas so ultimately the film doesn't 'say' as much as it desperately wants too.


*I do know that this is not how to spell dude. None the less I peservere with this 'quirky' spelling cause it gives me a slight tickle in the tummy whenever write this way. Its a little like writing Luv...but not as fucking irritating and retarded.