Smoking Causes Coughing – Film Review

A group of vigilantes called the “tobacco forces” is falling apart; to rebuild team spirit, their leader suggests that they meet for a week-long retreat before returning to save the world.

There are few filmmakers out there who are making movies as insanely weird and “WTF”-inducing than Quentin Dupieux. The first time I ever saw one of his movies was back when I was about ten years old, and it was of course, Rubber, which I still have a hard time believing exists to this day.

Although almost every film that Dupieux has directed has been extremely strange and more than a little campy, but that’s honestly why I look forward to his films – he’s unafraid to make the kind of movies that he wants to make. We live in a world where so much studio interference is evident and so when a filmmaker like Dupieux comes along, we should really be celebrating it.

And while his latest film Smoking Causes Coughing isn’t anything great by any stretch of the imagination, it’s definitely a highly entertaining and silly movie that will make you smile and laugh, even if you will more than likely leave wanting a lot more since it only runs at an extremely quick eighty-minutes.

The film starts off with an amazing scene in which a young boy who is on a road trip with his family tells them to pull over because he needs to pee in the bushes. Upon doing so, he notices something in the distance and asks his dad to hand him the binoculars so he can get a better look.

What is he looking at? It’s the Tobacco Force fighting a gigantic turtle, because why wouldn’t this film have something like that? This is the kind of thing you’re going to be in for if you end up watching this film. Is it totally ridiculous and nonsensical? Absolutely. But that’s the point of this whole thing.

With this film, Dupieux isn’t trying to make the next Best Picture winner, but rather, he was trying to make a film that would make people laugh hysterically and he succeeded immensely. I just wish that this movie was a lot longer than it was because eighty-minutes really wasn’t enough time to get invested in the Tobacco Force.

They are definitely a fun and exciting group of characters to follow but I wish I knew more about them because the film doesn’t ever give us time to explore their thoughts and feelings which was a shame. But in all honesty, this movie had one job – make me laugh – and it certainly succeeded there. If you’re on the hunt for an insanely silly movie that’ll make you shake your head and smile at just how absurd it is, look no further than this.

A short running-time and lack of character development may hold back the film, but Smoking Causes Coughing is nevertheless a highly entertaining and wildly campy comedy.