I thought this was a wonderfully engaging film, with a great script and acting. I'm reminded that my father, a smoker of many years with roots in the Bronx and the Air Force, quit smoking when my oldest brother was young after seeing a TV commercial about the effects of smoking. My brother is 40 now, and my father says there isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't think about smoking. His sister smoked for 50 years until she was forced away from it after one of lungs collapsed. Nicotine is powerful stuff and gives one pause when considering the nature of freedom and free will.
The part of the film I didn't like was characterizing, however comically, the alcohol, tobacco, and firearms industries (and at the end, others) as conspiring together somehow against the public and bragged about the damage they contribute to. The most redeeming part of the fim is how the main character, brilliantly played by
Aaron Eckhart, is a thinking man, seemingly aware of the social and ethical issues at stake, but an advocate for free speech or more broadly about the value of debate (and let the best man win). He's nothing but a pawn and a bouy, but Eckhart plays the role with conviction, not with cynicism, but - dare I say - integrity? Confronting basic, important questions about what an indivdual is accountable for beyond putting bread on the table, as a role model for a child or a social agent on talk shows, is far more interesting than cartoonish conspiriacy theories.