''How to Get Ahead in Advertising'' is a 1989 British
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
film written and directed by
Bruce Robinson
Bruce Robinson (born 2 May 1946) is an English actor, director, screenwriter and novelist. He wrote and directed the cult classic ''Withnail and I'' (1987), a film with comic and tragic elements set in London in the late 1960s, which drew on hi ...
and starring
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant (born Richard Grant Esterhuysen; 5 May 1957) is a Swazi-English actor and presenter. He made his film debut as Withnail in the comedy ''Withnail and I'' (1987). Grant received critical acclaim for his role as Jack Hock in Marie ...
and
Rachel Ward
Rachel Claire Ward (born 12 September 1957) is an English-Australian . The title is a pun and can be literally taken as "How to Get a ''Head'' in Advertising".
Plot
The film is a
farce
Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...
about a mentally unstable advertising executive, Denis Dimbleby Bagley (played by Grant), who suffers a nervous breakdown while making an advert for
pimple
A pimple is a kind of comedo that results from excess sebum and dead skin cells getting trapped in the pores of the skin. In its aggravated state, it may evolve into a pustule or papules. Pimples can be treated by acne medications, antibiotics, ...
cream. Rachel Ward plays his long-suffering but sympathetic wife, Julia Bagley.
Richard Wilson plays John Bristol, Bagley's boss.
Bagley has a crisis of conscience about the ethics of advertising, which leads to mania. He then develops a
boil
A boil, also called a furuncle, is a deep folliculitis, which is an infection of the hair follicle. It is most commonly caused by infection by the bacterium ''Staphylococcus aureus'', resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by an ...
on his right shoulder that comes to life with a face and voice. The voice of the boil, although uncredited, is that of Bruce Robinson. The boil takes a cynical and unscrupulous view of the advertising profession in contrast to Bagley's new-found ethical concerns. Eventually, Bagley decides to have the boil removed in hospital, but moments before he is taken into the operating room, the boil quickly grows into a replica of Bagley's head (only with a moustache) and covers Bagley's original head, asking doctors to lance it, which is done since nobody has noticed the switch from left to right nor the new moustache.
Bagley, now with the boil head, moustache, and personality (the movie's third personification from Grant after the stressed executive and the raving lunatic) returns home to celebrate his wedding anniversary, with the original head merely resembling a boil on his left shoulder. The "boil" eventually withers but doesn't die, yet Bagley resumes his advertising career rejuvenated and ruthless, although without his wife, who decides to leave his new cruel persona.
Cast
*
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant (born Richard Grant Esterhuysen; 5 May 1957) is a Swazi-English actor and presenter. He made his film debut as Withnail in the comedy ''Withnail and I'' (1987). Grant received critical acclaim for his role as Jack Hock in Marie ...
as Denis Dimbleby Bagley
*
Rachel Ward
Rachel Claire Ward (born 12 September 1957) is an English-Australian as Julia Bagley
*
Richard Wilson as John Bristol
*
Jacqueline Tong
Jacqueline Tong (born 21 May 1951) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Daisy Peel in the television series '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1973–1975), for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Contin ...
as Penny Wheelstock
*
John Shrapnel
John Morley Shrapnel (27 April 1942 – 14 February 2020) was an English actor. He is known mainly for his stage work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in the United Kingdom and for his many television appearances. O ...
as Psychiatrist
*
Susan Wooldridge
Susan Wooldridge (born 31 July 1950) is a British actress. She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for '' Hope and Glory'' (1987). Her television credits include '' Jewel in the Crown'', (1984), ''All Quiet on the Preston ...
as Monica
*
Hugh Armstrong as Harry Wax
*
Mick Ford
Mick Ford (born 1 August 1952) is a British actor, screenwriter and playwright, best known for his portrayal of intellectual convict Archer in the cinema version of ''Scum (film), Scum''.
Early life and education
Ford was born on 1 August 19 ...
as Richard
*
Jacqueline Pearce
Jacqueline Pearce (20 December 1943 – 3 September 2018) was a British film and television actress. She was best known for her portrayal of the principal villain Servalan in the British science fiction TV series ''Blake's 7'' (1978–1981), ...
as Maud
*
Christopher Simon
Christopher Simon (born 5 June 1963) is an Australian actor and producer. Born in Sydney, Australia.
He produced the film '' Miss You Already'' directed by Catherine Hardwicke.
Simon is also a producer of such films as ''The Sweeney (2012 f ...
as Waiter
* Gino Melvazzi as Waiter
* Victor Lucas as Tweedy Man
* Dawn Keeler as Tweedy Woman
* Kerryann White as Girl in Elevator
* Vivienne McKone as Sullivan Bristol Receptionist
* Donald Hoath as Businessman on Train
* John Levitt as Businessman on Train
*
Gordon Gostelow
Gordon Massey Gostelow (14 May 1925 – 3 June 2007) was an Australian actor. He was educated in Australia at North Sydney Boys High School and Sydney University where he graduated in Economics.
Gostelow went to England in 1950 and worked ...
as Priest
*
Pip Torrens
Philip D'Oyly "Pip" Torrens (born 2 June 1960) is an English actor.
Known for playing urbane, authoritative figures, Torrens portrayed courtier Tommy Lascelles in the Netflix drama ''The Crown'', aristocrat Lord Massen in the HBO series ''The ...
as Jonathan
*
Tony Slattery
Tony Declan James Slattery (born 9 November 1959) is an English actor and comedian. He appeared on British television regularly from the mid-1980s, most notably as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' His ...
as Basil
* Rachel Fielding as Jennifer
*
Pauline Melville
Pauline Melville FRSL (born 1948) is an English/Guyanese-born writer and former actor of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry, who is currently based in London, England. Among awards she has received for her writing – which encompasses short ...
as Mrs. Wallace
*
Roddy Maude-Roxby
Roderick A. Maude-Roxby (born 2 April 1930) is a retired English actor. He has appeared in numerous films, such as Walt Disney's ''The Aristocats'', where he voiced the greedy butler Edgar Balthazar (his only voice role); ''Unconditional Love''; ...
as Dr. Gatty
* Francesca Longrigg as Nurse
*
Tanveer Ghani
Tanveer Ghani is a British actor. He has appeared in various British television programmes and British films.
One of his first roles was in the BBC hospital drama, ''Angels'' (1982). He is perhaps best known for playing the role of Rezaul Kabir ...
as Hospital Doctor
* Joanna Mays as Phillis Blokey
*
Sean Bean
Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean on 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bean made his professional debut in a theatre production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983. Retaining his Yorkshire ac ...
as Larry Frisk
*
Bruce Robinson
Bruce Robinson (born 2 May 1946) is an English actor, director, screenwriter and novelist. He wrote and directed the cult classic ''Withnail and I'' (1987), a film with comic and tragic elements set in London in the late 1960s, which drew on hi ...
as the Boil (voice) (uncredited)
Reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
the film has an approval rating of 60% based on reviews from 15 critics.
In an interview with
Jimmy Kimmel
James Christian Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the host and executive producer of ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', a late-night talk show that premiered on ABC on January 26, 2003, ...
in 2019, Richard E. Grant said that
Jim Carrey
James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy te ...
called him a genius for his work in the film.
The film made £201,972 in the UK.
References
External links
*
*
*
''How to Get Ahead in Advertising''an essay by
Stanley Kauffmann
Stanley Kauffmann (April 24, 1916 – October 9, 2013) was an American writer, editor, and critic of film and theater.
Career
Kauffmann started with ''The New Republic'' in 1958 and contributed film criticism to that magazine for the next fifty ...
at the
Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
{{Bruce Robinson
1989 films
1980s black comedy films
British satirical films
British black comedy films
HandMade Films films
Films directed by Bruce Robinson
1989 comedy films
1980s English-language films
1980s British films