How to Get Ahead in Advertising

Dennis Bagley, an advertising man, seizes up on a campaign for a spot cream, and the block drives him into a collapse directed at his whole profession. Then a boil appears on his neck; the boil has a face and a voice, it talks, and what it says is everything Bagley has suppressed. Bruce Robinson takes the satire all the way out without flinching: advertising here is not a trade but the limit case of a person's capacity to convince themselves. Richard E. Grant plays the part almost entirely at a shout, and that choice sets the rhythm. The long monologues sit close to theatre. The result is not for everyone, but as displays of rage in its own genre it has few equals. Who it is for: viewers who like British black satire and Richard E. Grant. Who it is not for: anyone wanting measured comedy, since the film shouts from the first minute to the last.