"Why is the American government the best government in the world?"

When his precocious son posits the lamest of fourth-grade homework questions, Nick Naylor's knee-jerk response puts a new twist on patriotism: "Because of its endless appeals system."

Naylor (Aaron Eckhart, "Erin Brockovich"), the pleasantly rakish hero of "Thank You for Smoking," is the ultimate in mixed morals: a public spokesman for and perpetual defender of Big Tobacco. No wonder he admires the appeals system -0 his product, as he freely admits, kills almost half a million Americans a year. It's his job to keep this industry's image publicly afloat.

And Naylor is quite good at it. "Michael Jordan plays ball, Charles Manson kills people, I talk," he shrugs, and there is indeed an undeniable thrill in watching him work. But though he boasts a public notoriety he (justifiably) places on par with that of Genghis Khan, Naylor's infectious likability proves to be his greatest selling point, and the charismatic Eckhart makes for a deft casting choice.

With his aggressively all-American good looks, Eckhart practically radiates confident machismo - deep tan, blonde hair, bright, unblinking blue eyes and the widest slice of winning-white smile ever to launch a sales pitch. How telling that the kingpin of modern snake-oil salesmen should be the visual embodiment of the textbook American dream.

"Thank You for Smoking" never roundly condemns Naylor for his task; rather, it exposes the humor that the position exists at all. Once a week, Naylor meets for snappy dialogue and a greasy bar dinner with his fellow public foes and best friends (Maria Bello, "A History of Violence," and David Koechner, "Anchorman") who happen to be spokesmen for the other two most derided, mass-marketed products in the nation: alcohol and firearms. Together, the three create the most cheerful triumvirate of vice since the witches of "Macbeth."

This same acerbic sense of humor slyly guides and elevates the whole film. Th-e film's first fifth plays like a quick sitcom clip, and while the film may lag in spots, its 92 minutes skim rapidly over an incredible variety of terrific characters - J.K. Simmons ("Spiderman's" cigar-chomping editor) as Naylor's blustery, disloyal boss, Robert Duvall ("Secondhand Lions") as a mint-julep-lovin' Southern-gent tobacco tycoon and Sam Elliott ("The Big Lebowski") as a grizzled Marlboro Man gone sadly to seed with lung cancer.

"Thank You for Smoking" thankfully keeps up its winking humor, though it gamely turns with the arrival of a flirty reporter (the miscast Katie Holmes, "Batman Begins") to a hard questioning of its hero's job. Her accusation that Naylor is a "yuppie Mephistopheles" brings to light the weakness of his only moral defense - that he's got a mortgage to pay, too.

Does Naylor even buy that rationale? "Smoking" doesn't settle for defending lobbyists as valiant protectors of the consumer's "freedom of choice." Nick Naylor is, after all, just a talker. What about the larger system of government, with those appeals courts and paperwork loopholes he manipulates with such skill?

"Thank You for Smoking" ends up tongue-in-cheek toward both sides. A little sign hanging above the lobbyist trio's corner booth boasts an American flag and the words, "We have the best government money can buy." It's a sentiment that makes for the film's darkest, and most compelling, touch.

Thank You for Smoking
At the Michigan Theater
Fox Searchlight

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars