Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant but limited
Review: An excellent satire of TV gone berserk starts off well, with an advertising exec developing a pimple that starts doing the talking for him. Somewhere along the way, though, the satirical intent goes awry and the film founders -- specifically, it feels like it ends about half an hour too early. Too close to "Network" for some as well, and rather sedate compared to that film, but it's still worth a look.
Rating: 
Summary: Weird and wonderful
Review: An outrageously briliant movie that has so much verve and originality it makes you lightheaded.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny, Facinating & Unusual, with a good message.
Review: Bagley is a great character...his expressions, articulation, etc. All scenes & characters are jewels in this movie...so many quotable lines: "I suppose young girls were involved," asks the Priest. "Yes, says here that her breasts were spread with peanut butter." Sounds stupid out of context, but the whole scene is classic.
Rating:
Summary: hilarious and respectably intelligent
Review: Bruce Robinson needs to write and direct more often. His talent of intelligence coupled with completely absurd hilariousness is very much needed in film. Advertising couples him with Richard E. Grant, who is a master that needs to be casted in more leading roles more often. These two efficent sleuths of cinema merge together to form a film of hilarity, intelligence, and complete absurdity.
This film is a Robinson effort immediately following Withnail, and remains equally as self-effacing as said previous work. Writing is tremendously spectacular here, with both critiques and promotions of socialism, society, and the workplace. These threads as well as an obvious examination of the advertising industry manage to cover a myriad of arguments involving the subjects, and do so in the most hilaroius manner possible. Each character's manner of speech is populated with an expansive vocabulary and dedicated insanity, yet the management of conflicting ideals contained within the story are what is so masterful here.
The look of the film isn't anything special, with lots of grain everywhere and some tiny made-for-tv-movie looks. Editing is all right, sound is generally believeable, some very minor sync flaws, and hilarious animation. Slow motion employed, especially when coupled with orchestral triumph, accentuate the hilarity here. As Dennis Bagley grows a boil that eventually becomes his own head, this preposterous film still manages to be relevant and rational, as plausible a movie with a man growing another head can be.
Advertising is a hilarious, intelligent, and very visceral enjoyment. It is a film not afraid to examine important issues of society in a direct yet very often subtle manner. An absolutely marvelous film too often overlooked, exhibiting talent exceptional and unique throughout. It is a film teeming with an endless supply of brain, heart, and boils.
Rating:
Summary: Hilariously bitter comedy
Review: Bruce Robinson, made a hit with with this movie. A pimple will be more than a simple headache of an important executive who falls on disgrace. Slowly this pimple will grow and grow till...
With this film England goes ahead once more with the black comedy, a genre not so cultivated as past decades.
The situations obviously are not under control of this authoritative and methodic manager. The chaos and neuroses will be his fellow friends in this funny tale.
Please, don't miss by any circunstance of watching this film.
To be true, the meaning of life of Monty Phyton, and Brazil of Gilliam were too, another unforgettable films in that decade, but due its own originality, how to get ... deserves a worthy place in the story of the great english black films in any time.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and Inspired
Review: How To Get Ahead in Advertising is a very interesting film based on human dualism. Denis Dimbleby Bagley (Robert E. Grant), the main character, is a rather successful business man in the world of advertising where he gladly walks over corpses in order to reach goals. The film begins at the crossroads where Mr. Bagley is coming in contact with his righteous qualities and wants to resign from his well-paid job. Meanwhile there is a malevolent trait lurking in his subconscious trying to get out.
Rating:
Summary: Good vs. Evil?
Review: How To Get Ahead in Advertising is a very interesting film based on human dualism. Denis Dimbleby Bagley (Robert E. Grant), the main character, is a rather successful business man in the world of advertising where he gladly walks over corpses in order to reach goals. The film begins at the crossroads where Mr. Bagley is coming in contact with his righteous qualities and wants to resign from his well-paid job. Meanwhile there is a malevolent trait lurking in his subconscious trying to get out.
Rating:
Summary: Insanely fun, with the emphasis on insane
Review: HOW TO GET AHEAD IN ADVERTISING is a wonderfully over-the-top piece of hilarious satire. The always entertaining Richard E. Grant plays a stressed-out advertising executive who finally snaps and begins arguing with a head that conveniently grows out of his shoulder. As this was written and directed by Bruce Robinson (the same man behind WITHNAIL & I) you can be sure that every line of dialogue sounds like obscene poetry and Grant delivers each of these with exactly the right amount of pure manic energy.The humor present here is very dark, and at times could be described as disturbing, so this may not be for everyone's tastes. Obviously, a comedy that centers around an ordinary man accidentally growing a second head isn't going to be something that's geared towards everyone's liking, but if you enjoy off-beat humour and outrageous satire, then this is probably something that will delight you. There's certainly a lot to recommend: the acting is wonderful, the direction is very assured and the writing sparkles. This is one of the few films in which it is almost impossible to predict what will be happening next. Sharply critical of advertising, capitalism, industry, commerce, and half a dozen other subjects, this is something that will make you think in the few moments when it isn't making you laugh. DVD notes: The film is presented in wide-screen. It looks great and sounds just as good. There isn't much of anything in the way of extras, though it does contain the original theatrical trailer.
Rating:
Summary: Insanely fun, with the emphasis on insane
Review: HOW TO GET AHEAD IN ADVERTISING is a wonderfully over-the-top piece of hilarious satire. The always entertaining Richard E. Grant plays a stressed-out advertising executive who finally snaps and begins arguing with a head that conveniently grows out of his shoulder. As this was written and directed by Bruce Robinson (the same man behind WITHNAIL & I) you can be sure that every line of dialogue sounds like obscene poetry and Grant delivers each of these with exactly the right amount of pure manic energy. The humor present here is very dark, and at times could be described as disturbing, so this may not be for everyone's tastes. Obviously, a comedy that centers around an ordinary man accidentally growing a second head isn't going to be something that's geared towards everyone's liking, but if you enjoy off-beat humour and outrageous satire, then this is probably something that will delight you. There's certainly a lot to recommend: the acting is wonderful, the direction is very assured and the writing sparkles. This is one of the few films in which it is almost impossible to predict what will be happening next. Sharply critical of advertising, capitalism, industry, commerce, and half a dozen other subjects, this is something that will make you think in the few moments when it isn't making you laugh. DVD notes: The film is presented in wide-screen. It looks great and sounds just as good. There isn't much of anything in the way of extras, though it does contain the original theatrical trailer.
Rating:
Summary: Worth taking a look at.
Review: I found How to Get a Head in Advertising, very original and funny. It wasn't as great as Withnail and I, but not far off. If you're a fan of Richard E Grant or Withnail and I, then I would strongly recommend this movie. If not you're not a fan of the two then it may not be your cup of tea.
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