How to Get Ahead in Advertising

A satire in the mould of Cronenberg. An advertising executive’s repressed stress rears its ugly head when his evil twin sprouts from his neck. We spend the entire film unsure of whether this is merely a figment of his imagination or whether he is actually being kept company by some kind of talking tumour (notice how ambiguously his interactions with the other characters are handled in order to amplify our doubts). Starting from the crucial WTF reveal, the film can thus be interpreted on two parallel levels – either Bagley alone has lost his mind or the whole world has. In either case, the cause would be the same – the long-term hypocritical avoidance of problems instead of resolving them, an approach which, at least in advertising discourse, is based on the assumption that you must not sell a solution, but only exaggerate the problem that needs to be solved. To the film’s detriment, Bruce Robinson, creator of the boozy cult comedy Withnail and I, adopts such a militant attitude towards marketing that the brisk barrage of screwball comedy at the beginning of the film gradually slides into increasing hopelessness, and the conclusion is neither funny nor entertainingly bizarre, but just bitter and mean. Even so, this is an excellent example of meaningfully working with the comedy genre thanks to the unstoppable Richard E. Grant, shot compositions that have narrative value in and of themselves and the film's ability to disconcert the viewer. 70% (25.09.2014)

You have definitely experienced it before. A concept that cannot disappoint, and in the first few minutes you feel a perfect harmony, but as time goes by, reality sets in and you wonder where the mistake happened. Advertising, that scented corpse of capitalism, is an incredibly grateful target for satire, and when you have a good scriptwriter who knows how to play with advertising slogans and turn the manipulative techniques of advertising agencies upside down, you can't disappoint the audience. However, the script took the wrong direction; in my opinion, it's a typical search for blind alleys. What was supposed to be explosively funny is sterile or even slightly slips into awkwardness. However, Richard E. Grant is a good choice for portraying the advertising wizard, and his performances, when he feels like he's at the bottom, work. It's a pity for the wasted potential, and in the end, I lean towards giving it two stronger stars for its toothless ending. Simply don't bother with it... Overall impression: 45%. (26.01.2020)