Novel

In Defense of Cigarettes

Roger Ebert on smoking and Hollywood.

For some time now, Roger Ebert has seemed like the great uncle of film criticism. But anyone who has written Ebert off should check out his blog over at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he spouts off on a wide-range of subjects, like creationism and the presidential debates. His latest gem is a defense of smoking in the movies. "Movies can't rewrite reality," Ebert writes, noting the growing taboo on cigarettes in popular culture. "If, by the time you're old enough to sit through a movie, you haven't heard that smoking is bad for you, you don't need a movie rating, you need a foster home." Ebert was partly inspired by a new postal depicting Bette Davis without her trademark cigarette.