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

The ending and Humphrey Appleby



The ending REALLY reminded me of the old, fantastic TV show 'Yes, Minister' and the slightly watered-down sequel, 'Yes, Prime Minister'.

You could almost replace the protagonist (if he can be called that) with Humphrey Appleby, and not think anything weird is going on.

Now, this is probably the highest compliment anyone can give a movie. That TV show was absolutely ingenious, extremely well-written, amazingly cerebral and yet easy to understand if you focus a bit more than you normally would, and surprisingly truthful to what's really going on in the world.

I mean, it's EASY to imagine exactly this sort of thing happening behind the scenes, hidden from the public eye, which is the reason that sort of TV show is not going to be made these days, and I don't imagine any TV channel would these days show reruns of that excellent show.

I recommend it for anyone that wants a bit more intelligent entertainment, while being shown how power really works and what powerful people really do when the public is not looking.. and how they SCHEME, and then rationalize that scheming.

Humphrey Appleby is the greatest character in any TV show ever in my opinion.

So when this movie actually reminds me of him and that brilliant TV show, it can only be a good thing. This movie is a KEEPER. It makes you really think about manipulations, machinations, cigarettes, choice, debating and how it all works.

Bravo.

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