MovieChat Forums > Thank You for Smoking (2006) Discussion > The ending

The ending

posted 10 years ago by Roonil_Wazlib_97
11 replies | jump to latest

Obvious spoilers.

Who agrees this was a lousy ending?
So after defending his point of view till the end ("I'm good at talking/I defend the defenseless/I defend freedom of choice") and succeeding at turning things around in his favor in the aftermath of the article that discredited him, Nick Naylor suddenly remembers he has a kid and that his line of work is morally wrong, and he does the "responsible" thing and quits! It happens so randomly. But right after that, we see he's returned to the same type of work he did, this time with cellphone companies. So what on earth was the point of quitting this thing only to very quickly go on to do the same thing again, just under a different name??

[–] AnonymousBoy 10 years ago

Yup, the ending is strangely misplaced. But even so, it's better than the book's ending, which involves romantic backstabbing and BR sending a hitman to kill Nick, but having Nick instead catch the hitman and turns him, resulting in BR being assassinated instead... it's really weird and sounds like someone trying to write an action movie.

[–] crakatoot 10 years ago

It definetly felt like a cop out. Made me question the whole point of the movie

[–] jmrex 10 years ago

He didn't quit for moral reasons. He felt betrayed by his employer.

[–] Roonil_Wazlib_97 9 years ago

He said the contrary though. See my reply to move_over_fatso.

Last watched: Being There (5/10), Milk (7/10)

[–] move_over_fatso 10 years ago

As odd as it sounds, I don't think the movie was about smoking or anti-smoking.

I think the movie was about the lobbyist industry, and society's pliable morality. Quitting was a calculated career decision made by Nick. Its his job to make a company's position look like its been made on moral principle, and he applies his skills to his own image. And its all BS. That's why he "succeeds" in the end, which illustrates that success is the best revenge, and the PR industry is all illusion; a pack of lies. Instead of thinking of Nick as a hero, you should think of him as an anti-hero; reflecting the vacuousness of mere career success absent values. I thought it was a good ending, and in a humorous, storybook way, illustrated reality.

[–] Roonil_Wazlib_97 9 years ago

Very late reply but here it is...
I think your interpretation is interesting but unfortunately it doesn't really fit with the movie because Nick Naylor says this in voiceover (not in a PR or something):

"I actually meant what I said about responsibility. Some things are just more important than paying a mortgage. So I did the only responsible thing I could. I turned down the job."

So unless we have an unreliable narrator (which wasn't established at any point beforehand), it looks like he really believed in quitting and he did it on moral grounds and it's not an act to polish his image.

Last watched: Being There (5/10), Milk (7/10)

[–] jmrex 9 years ago

Yes, but responsibility to what? The narrator didn't specify. Since he's apparently willing to buy his son his first pack of cigs, I say the voice-over was talking about his responsibility to himself. To have some self-respect. To not go back working for somebody who betrayed him. To do so would set a poor example for his kid, much worse than what choice to make about cigs.

[–] Roonil_Wazlib_97 9 years ago

Mmm this is too reaching. At the hearing he talked about responsibility to his kid - being responsible for his growth and development. So when he says "I meant what I said about responsibility," it refers to responsibility in the way he talked about it at the hearing.

He says "Now, I know what you're probably thinking. What a great opportunity for me to teach Joey how to use leverage against a backstabbing boss. But I actually meant what I said about responsibility." So he's not interested in showing his boy how to deal with a backstabbing boss.

Last watched: The Salt of the Earth (6.5/10), Far From the Madding Crowd [2015] (8/10),

[–] jmrex 9 years ago

I think you might be right. It doesn't fit.

[–] GoMangoMan (40) a year ago

in the book it's even more than that. (spoilers for the book).

in the epilogue he suddenly becomes an advocate _against_ tobacco and is the one who writes the book "thank you for smoking". in fact the whole MOD squad recant saying (at least publically) "we now recognize the wickedness of our former ways".

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7734) a year ago

I was fine with the ending. Then again I am anti smoking. If you are going to smoke though, stay away from my home state of Illinois cause the smoking age is 21 and they have raised sales tax and state taxes on them so that even the cheapest pack is like $8 after tax. From what I have heard on the news, a lot of smokers in my region of Southern Illinois are going to other states to buy them since the taxes on them are lower there.