How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)

Dennis Dimbleby Bagley is a brilliant young advertising executive who can't come up with a slogan to sell a revolutionary new pimple cream... (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Bruce Robinson
Written By: Bruce Robinson
Starring: Sean Bean, Richard E. Grant, Terry Jones, Rachel Ward, John Shrapnel, Tony Slattery, Susan Wooldridge, Richard Wilson, Jacqueline Tong
Genre: Comedy
Country: UK
Where to Stream
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How to Get Ahead in Advertising belongs to 11 collections
1. Criterion Collection (collaborative: moderated by caffe - 165 stars)
2. Features under 91 minutes (collaborative: moderated by epiphany - 56 stars)
3. Certified weird (collaborative: moderated by Dreamer - 46 stars)
4. Psychotronic Film and Video Guides (collaborative: moderated by Gregzilla - 40 stars)
5. Black Comedy (collaborative: moderated by Dorkovsky - 30 stars)
6. Body horror (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess - 8 stars)
7. Capsules, guest reviews, list candidates... (366weirdmovies) (collaborative: moderated by sesito71 - 4 stars)
8. Coheed's Celluloid Pit (public: Coheed - 1 star)
9. nminichino DVD collection (public: nminichino)
10. HDD 151029 (public: caffe)
11. Forrest Watch List (public: ForrestQ)
Browse the full list of collections
Stars | User | Rating | |
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Barthalen | 61 40th |
I almost gave up halfway through; I couldn't find a reason to care about Grant's (well-acted, I'll Grant you that, hyuck hyuck) character and his subsequent problems. The middle feels like a slog to get through, with irritating and slightly gross content. Gets more interesting/weirder as it chugs along, and once the two-way-television conversation rolls around I was back on board. Also, greedy consumerism is bad you say?? [monocle pops out in shock] Well I never!
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KMcNeil | 9 94th |
Ridiculously well-written satire. "I'm an expert on tits. Tits and peanut butter."
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LouisMazzini | 75 59th |
Although Grant's performance is fantastic, ultimately I felt the film didn't connect. This is a film that has something to say but in the end I don't think it made any point beyond some kind of vague anti-consumerism stance.
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doctor7 | 74 59th |
I think the best way to describe this film would be to say that if David Cronenberg ever made a comedy this would be it. It's as if someone combined the Brood and Network into a single film. Absolutely hilarious in parts, downright absurd in others Advertising always manages to entertain. However I have to say it felt that it started off much stronger than it finished. Still worth seeing.
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Stain | 90 86th |
Highly engaging and seriously strange. Richard E. Grant must have had such fun with this role
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Spunkie | 55 52nd |
Unluckily it looks and feels very dated. Because of the lameness in direction a good script doesn't work in parts. Grant is very theatrical and eye catching , the message is a bit old but not irrelevant. Worth the time.
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Mentaculus | 94 94th |
I have no idea why I like this movie as much as I do. The monologues that bookend the film are perfect capstones to a wonderfully fucked-up allegory of one's postmodern decent into complacency.
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paulofilmo | 74 90th |
Thank the lordy!, a good film that I don't have to submit.
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miss jesus | 69 65th |
Clever, but not very pleasant.
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MacSwell | 75 70th |
A top ad man goes insane trying to market a new boil cream. The film deserves praise for its bold and unconventional writing, imagery and finale, but it's a little light substance-wise. The scathing anti-advertising message isn't handled at all subtly but thankfully it never feels as though Robinson is trying to be ground-breakingly profound. What really makes this worthwhile viewing is Grant's wonderfully unhinged performance.
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Average Percentile 61.64% from 290 Ratings | ![]() |