The central character is Nick Naylor, who is a high-flying cigarette lobbyist, and Aaron Eckhart nails Naylor to perfection. His ego is boundless and he is a schemer par excellence, even when facing defeat. Naylor has the resources to turn things around, much to the admiration of his young son, who, in the cynical pattern of this unsentimental film, may well follow in his dad’s questionable footsteps.

Maria Bello is good playing the alcohol spokesperson, David Koechner is effective as the gun control opponent, and Robert Duvall is predictably colorful as the big gun of the tobacco industry. One very funny scene involves Naylor testifying before a Senate committee, with William H. Macy as Senator Finisterre, who finds the tables turned against him when Naylor talks about the famous cheese of the senator’s home state of Vermont helping to clog the nation’s arteries. The film takes a swat at a Congress in which virtually everyone is trying to protect some profitable turf and is beholden to lobbyists.