Two heads are not necessarily better than one in this "highly entertaining" (The Hollywood Reporter), "blistering" (Los Angeles) satire about a man brought to the edge of insanity by a rival out for control of his career and his body! To hotshot ad exec Dennis Bagley (RichardE. Grant), people are pathetic sheep to whom he can sell anything except a brand-new pimple cream. Creatively blocked, Dennis becomes so stressed that he sprouts a pimple of his own a pimple that eventually grows into a huge head...with a mind and a voice! Before long, the sassy carbuncle takes over Dennis' life, revealing to him a diabolical plan to control the masses. Now Dennis must find courage deep within himself to save societyand himselffrom the beastly blemish!
After the release of Withnail & I, British writer-director Bruce Robinson continued his satirical assault on British culture with this fiendishly funny rant, the title of which can be taken figuratively and literally as an object lesson in the art of consumer manipulation. Nobody dupes consumers better than Dennis Bagley (Richard E. Grant); his genius in crafting seductive ad campaigns has earned him a country estate, countless awards, an admiring boss, a loving wife (Rachel Ward), and, well, a gigantic boil on his shoulder that's like a throbbing zit from hell. Dennis is so tormented by a difficult campaign for pimple cream--and so filled with self-loathing after years of promoting dubious products--that his inner demon, the media-savvy and profiteering side of himself, has manifested itself as a talking pustule with a mind (and a face and a voice) of its own. Robinson's scathing critique of mindless consumerism begins with one of the funniest monologues ever written, and Grant instantly claims his role with manic perfection. A time bomb of repressed anxiety, Dennis blossoms in righteous protest against his profession, only to find his evil boil growing dominant, worrying his wife (Ward's performance is charmingly sympathetic), and inevitably seizing control. The movie's message is obvious and heavy-handed, and Robinson's blazing wit grows increasingly bilious and urgent, but you can't blame him for sniping at easy targets. As corporate synergy and rampant commercialism reach insane proportions, How to Get Ahead in Advertising grows more relevant than ever, holding a mirror to the grotesqueries of capitalism in extremis. --Jeff Shannon
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