Rent How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)
3.6 of 5 from 71 ratings
1h 30min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Dennis Dimbleby Bagley (Richard E. Grant) is a brilliant young advertising executive who can't come up with a slogan to sell a revolutionary new pimple cream. His obsessive worrying affects not only his relationship with his wife (Rachel Wars), his friends and his boss, but also his own body - graphically demonstrated when he grows a large stress-related boil on his shoulder. But When the boil grows eyes and a mouth and starts talking, Bagley really begins to think he's lost his mind, But has he...?
- Actors:
- Richard E. Grant, Rachel Ward, Richard Wilson, Jacqueline Tong, John Shrapnel, Susan Wooldridge, Hugh Armstrong, Mick Ford, Jacqueline Pearce, Christopher Simon, Gino Melvazzi, Victor Lucas, Dawn Keeler, Kerryann White, Vivienne McKone
- Directors:
- Bruce Robinson
- Producers:
- David Wimbury
- Writers:
- Bruce Robinson
- Studio:
- Anchor Bay
- Genres:
- Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
- Collections:
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Reviews (1) of How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Thatcher’s Britain, Saatchi’s Smile, and a Talking Boil - How to Get Ahead in Advertising review by griggs
Thatcher-era Britain: gloss on top, division underneath, with ad men like the Saatchis selling happiness like toothpaste and helping make politicians the product. Robinson’s film still feels contemporary, despite the 80s chintz. The sting is timeless: advertising turns doubt into desire before sending you the bill.
The premise is gloriously wrong. An ad man’s ethical rot becomes literal: a talking boil with a face and a moustache sprouts on his shoulder and starts heckling him. It’s disgusting, yes, but it’s also oddly lucid about how the job eats your brain while you’re busy calling it “creativity”.
Richard E. Grant is the main event. He doesn’t just unravel; he detonates — flipping from fury to panic to pitch-man sincerity in the same breath, all wild eyes and clenched charm. The film is messy and occasionally lumpy, but it’s sharply written, properly funny, and bracing in the best way.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.