How to Get Ahead in Advertising | | Cast : | Richard E. Grant, Rachel Ward | | Director : | Bruce Robinson | | Studio : | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | January 01, 1989 | | DVD Released Date : | December 02, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | December 04, 2004 | | Summary | Its a talking boil | Content
 | Its a movie about a talking boil....what more do you need to know? |
| Rating | | | Date | October 16, 2004 | | Summary | hilarious and respectably intelligent | Content
| How to Get Ahead in Advertising is an exercise in excessive intelligence coupled with completely absurd hilariousness. Advertising merges together two efficent sleuths of cinema, Bruce Robinson and Richard E. Grant, who together form a film of hilarity, intelligence, and complete absurdity.
Writing is tremendously spectacular here, with both critiques and promotions of socialism, society, and the workplace. These threads as well as an obvious examination of the advertising industry manage to cover a myriad of arguments involving the subjects, and do so in the most hilaroius manner possible. Each character's manner of speech is populated with an expansive vocabulary and dedicated insanity, yet the management of conflicting ideals contained within the story are what is so masterful here.
The look of the film isn't anything special, with lots of grain everywhere and some tiny made-for-tv-movie looks. Editing is all right, sound is generally believeable, some very minor sync flaws, and hilarious animation. Slow motion employed, especially when coupled with orchestral triumph, accentuate the hilarity here. As Dennis Bagley grows a boil that eventually becomes his own head, this preposterous film still manages to be relevant and rational, as plausible a movie with a man growing another head can be.
Advertising is a hilarious, intelligent, and very visceral enjoyment. It is a film not afraid to examine important issues of society in a direct yet very often subtle manner. An absolutely marvelous film too often overlooked, exhibiting talent exceptional and unique throughout. It is a film teeming with an endless supply of brain, heart, and boils. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 31, 2004 | | Summary | Very funny but also weird. | Content
| 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 cartoon birds fly put of his chimney and into his TV set. This marks when fantasy becomes reality. The boil begins growing a face and begins talking! Things get realy bad after this but I do not want to ruin the surprise.
The acting in this film is better and is well-rehearsed. The film does have much strong language earning it an R rating. Watch the movie yourself before deciding to let your teenage children watch it.
The only special feature on the DVD is a theatrical trailer.
It is currently out of print and ususally sells for more than twice it's original retail price. The DVD was taken out of print more recently so more copies were made of this release than other out of print Criterion DVD's. Bootlegs of this are more rare and the film has been re-released on a non-criterion edition by MGM home video. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 21, 2004 | | Summary | Hilariously bitter comedy | Content
| 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 of watching this film.
To be true, the meaning of life of Monty Phyton, and Brazil of Gilliam were too, another unforgettable films in that decade, but due its own originality, how to get ... deserves a worthy place in the story of the great english black films in any time. |
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