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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9781559409216
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 1559409215
Label: Criterion
Manufacturer: Criterion
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: July 10, 2001
Running Time: 94 minutes
Sales Rank: 89290
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: 1989
Editorial Review:
Description:
Richard E. Grant is the endlessly suave Dennis Bagley, a high-strung advertising executive whose shoulder sprouts an evil, talking boil. The boil speaks only to Bagley, is silent to the rest of the world, and seems to be growing. This caustic satire reunites the talented team behind the cult classic Withnail and I to create a tour de force of verbal jousting and physical comedy.
Amazon.com:
After the release of Withnail & I, British writer-director Bruce Robinson continued his satirical assault on British culture with this fiendishly funny rant, the title of which can be taken figuratively and literally as an object lesson in the art of consumer manipulation. Nobody dupes consumers better than Dennis Bagley (Richard E. Grant); his genius in crafting seductive ad campaigns has earned him a country estate, countless awards, an admiring boss, a loving wife (Rachel Ward), and, well, a gigantic boil on his shoulder that's like a throbbing zit from hell. Dennis is so tormented by a difficult campaign for pimple cream--and so filled with self-loathing after years of promoting dubious products--that his inner demon, the media-savvy and profiteering side of himself, has manifested itself as a talking pustule with a mind (and a face and a voice) of its own.
Robinson's scathing critique of mindless consumerism begins with one of the funniest monologues ever written, and Grant instantly claims his role with manic perfection. A time bomb of repressed anxiety, Dennis blossoms in righteous protest against his profession, only to find his evil boil growing dominant, worrying his wife (Ward's performance is charmingly sympathetic), and inevitably seizing control. The movie's message is obvious and heavy-handed, and Robinson's blazing wit grows increasingly bilious and urgent, but you can't blame him for sniping at easy targets. As corporate synergy and rampant commercialism reach insane proportions, How to Get Ahead in Advertising grows more relevant than ever, holding a mirror to the grotesqueries of capitalism in extremis. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - one of the funniest films ever made
This movie is a riot. Richard E Grant gives an amazingly intense performance. His entire role seems to consist of nothing but brilliantly scabrous monologues. His acerbic take on everything around him starts at a fever pitch and then giddily topples over into outright inspired lunacy. See this film if for no other reason than to get a glimpse of him naked save for a kitchen apron, gleefully stuffing raw chickens down the toilet drain and all the while explaining, " Everything I do makes sense, everything ... Read More
Rating: - Important to watch
Bill Hicks said "if you're in marketing, do us all a favor and shoot yourself". If you've seen How to get ahead in advertising, you'd know exactly what he meant. This movie is a great take on showing the warped mindset of someone who works in the industry.
Rating:  - Its a talking boil
Its a movie about a talking boil....what more do you need to know?
Rating: - Very funny but also weird.
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
"How to Get Ahead in Advertising" in one of the most original comedies I have seen. The humor ranges from the shocking, to the surrealistic, to slapstick.
The film is about Dennis Bagley, an advertising agent trying to come up with a slogan for a skin ointment that removes boils.
He is so stressed from time pressure that he grows a boil on his right shoulder. Then one day when he is asleep two talking ... Read More
Rating: - Hilariously bitter comedy
Bruce Robinson, made a hit with with this movie. A pimple will be more than a simple headache of an important executive who falls on disgrace. Slowly this pimple will grow and grow till...
With this film England goes ahead once more with the black comedy, a genre not so cultivated as past decades.
The situations obviously are not under control of this authoritative and methodic manager. The chaos and neuroses will be his fellow friends in this funny tale.
Please, don't miss by any circunstance ... Read More
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