How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Bruce Robinson

Writer:

Bruce Robinson (written by)

Release Date:

29 March 1990 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy

Tagline:

The Career Where Two Heads Are Better Than One

Plot:

Dennis Dimbleby Bagley is a brilliant young advertising executive who can't come up with a slogan to sell a revolutionary new pimple cream...

Plot Keywords:

Advertising | Insanity | Diatribe | Psychiatrist | Satire

Cast

Richard E. Grant	...	Denis Dimbleby Bagley
Rachel Ward	...	Julia Bagley
Richard Wilson	...	John Bristol, Bagley's Boss
Jacqueline Tong	...	Penny Wheelstock
John Shrapnel	...	Psychiatrist
Susan Wooldridge	...	Monica
Hugh Armstrong	...	Harry Wax
Mick Ford	...	Richard
Jacqueline Pearce	...	Maud
Christopher Simon	...	Waiter
Gino Melvazzi	...	Waiter
Victor Lucas	...	Tweedy Man
Dawn Keeler	...	Tweedy Woman
Kerryann White	...	Girl in Elevator (as Kerry Ann White)
Vivienne McKone	...	Sullivan Bristol Receptionist

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

HandMade Films

Goofs:

Continuity: During the anniversary party, the strap on Julia's dress changes shoulders for one scene. When the dress is on the opposite shoulder, it looks a different colour as well.

Quotes:

Denis Dimbleby Bagley: My grandfather was caught molesting a wallaby in a private zoo in 1919.
Psychiatrist: A wallaby?
Denis Dimbleby Bagley: It may have been a kangaroo. I'm not sure.
Psychiatrist: You mean sexually?
Denis Dimbleby Bagley: I suppose so. He had his hand in its pouch.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XIX (#20.4)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Oscillate Wildly

Review: How to Get Ahead in Advertising

What made good satire film? You might not have an idea. But everybody knows when they see a good one. Good satire film must succeed in good storytelling while making their statement. But it rarely to see a film that proudly calls themselves as a good one. As it might be a great chance that they couldn't find a right ingredient and then transformed into some kind of silly spoof or complete disaster (i.e. American Dreamz, Prêt-à-Porter, and The Bonfire of the Vanities). Anyway, there's an exception in some cases. This is a case that they don't particularly care much about story at all, and somehow it's still very intriguing to see. "How to Get Ahead in Advertising" is full-on sermonizing film that can talk you to the death. But the point that they wanted to make is so clear even you can't possibly not to appreciate by it.

Here is the best way to put social-commentary into the film. You build story around the massage that you want to convey, and then making it as ridiculous as possible. Dennis (Richard E. Grant) is an advertising agent and a career obsessive young man who can't find his way in the new pimple cream campaign. His ongoing stress is causing him a nervous breakdown as he rejects everybody around him including his wife, Julia (Rachel Ward), his boss, John Bristol (Richard Wilson). And his rejection finally causes him a boil that constantly growing on his shoulder. Not soon after, it starts talking to him and developing into another head. Eventually, it starts to take control his entire body.

What's wrong about Consumerism? Or Materialism? They may not give you the best idea about it. But at least they are absolutely right about what we have become or going to be. Personally, I think the film comes ahead of its time. We're talking about technology (i.e. Car, TV, Internet and everything) that plays a significant role in your everyday life. People can't possibly live without it. And we're constantly reminded by one thing called "an advertising". They will make you realize what you have missed in your life. But didn't the customer know that it doesn't really give a s**t about what your basic needs or what you have missed. All they care is selling whatever they have in the store.

As it goes along, the film constantly transformed itself from dark comedy into pure madness. If we're not judging a movie on a social-commentary point-of-view (which is the main point of this project), but instead, focus on character study, it's still a very good film. Because I think it also can be a battle between consciences Dennis and his devil inside. We saw that he kept this balance quite well at the beginning. But soon after his breakdown, he began to reject his job and all consumerism perspective in everyday life. And because of that, his devil inside, who takes a lead role in Dennis's life until now, tried to resist and began to reclaim the body. In the end, it really doesn't matter that who won. But all the remaining is a pure demonic living human.

All this, it couldn't be possible succeed if the actor who plays Dennis wasn't Richard E. Grant (whom, I think is awfully underrated actor working today). It's a daring and pretty intense role. With all the monologues (including one of the best and magnificent epilogue in movie history) and insane things he had to do, he nailed it and did it so powerful that we can't take our eyes off him. It's like, the director; Bruce Robinson took out his soul and his brain and put it in this amazing actor.

I have yet to see Withnail & I (1987) which is the first collaboration between Bruce Robinson and Richard E. Grant. But if this film is an only film that Bruce and Richard did together, I won't be complaining about it. "How to Get Ahead in Advertising" is an honest film. It totally believes what it wanted to say. It might sound absolutely ridiculous sometime. But many times it perfectly precise. Tell me, don't you agree with our protagonist that "The world is one magnificent friggin' shop, and if it hasn't got a price tag, it isn't worth having"?

BloodyMonday Rating: 3/4