10 Vitriolic Films Built On Biting Satire

Now, we come to 2005's Thank You for Smoking, which delves into the farcical exploits of lobby groups to shut down the legislators and maximise their profits. Its tongue is firmly in its cheek throughout the runtime.

Despite Aaron Eckhart's best efforts as a lobbyist for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, Thank You for Smoking is really about all our vices: both what they do to us and the efforts of their critics to put themselves up on moral pedestals.

Throughout the film Nick Naylor is constantly butting heads with obstacles in his role from declining smoking numbers and even rival lobby groups like the Society for the Advancement of Firearms and Effective Training for Youth. Despite the positioning of its characters, Thank You For Smoking paints them all with the same ridicule.

The same holds true for Naylor's opponents in the anti-smoking business; in one wacky scene, they tie him up and cover him in nicorette plasters in a bid to wean him off the smokes. The way the organisations use all these snazzy names and acronyms to appear smart and go to extreme lengths to implant their agendas on the masses relays the film's black comedy with great gusto.