From the Collection: How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Bruce Robinson’s dark comedy How to Get Ahead in Advertising has been added to the Criterion Collection.
Writer-director Bruce Robinson and star Richard E. Grant, the cracked comic geniuses behind the cult favorite Withnail and I, reteamed for this diabolically dark satire of runaway capitalism in Margaret Thatcher–era England. Grant gives a virtuosically crazed performance as an ambitious advertising exec whose latest assignment—devising a campaign for a pimple cream—has him on the edge of a nervous breakdown. When he sprouts an enormous boil on his shoulder—one that not only talks but has evil ambitions of its own—a twisted battle of wills ensues. With fantastically fleshy body-horror effects and flourishes of gonzo surrealism, this tour de force of verbal jousting and physical comedy is a caustic Jekyll-and-Hyde tale for the greed-is-good 1980s.
Here’s What the Disc Includes:
- 2K digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Peter Hannan, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- New documentary featuring interviews with writer-director Bruce Robinson and actor Richard E. Grant
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- New illustration by Jaxon Northon
- PLUS: An essay by critic David Cairns
How to Get Ahead in Advertising, a hilarious title given the events of the film, is a delirious but insightful look at greed in 1980s England. Writer/director Bruce Robinson’s biting satire is like a mix of Mad Men and Basket Case, laced with British humor. How to Get Ahead in Advertising was only Robinson’s second feature film as a director, and he saw success once again. Grant is superb, playing dual parts: the normal Bagley, a high-powered ad exec who is stressed about a new face cream, and evil Bagley, who starts as a stress boil, only for it to gain a personality and overtake the normal Bagley’s body and life. Is it insane? Absolutely, but it’s glorious fun.
The disc doesn’t offer much in the way of bonus features or behind-the-scenes featurettes, except for a documentary featuring Robinson and Grant. I do like the cover for the film and loved that they plastered Grant’s final speech inside the disc. It’s an extraordinary speech, and it’s great to see whenever I open the disc. With Withnail and I already in the Collection (and having gotten a 4k rerelease in May), the two would make a terrific Robinson/Grant double feature.
You can buy How to Get Ahead in Advertising at the Criterion Collection website or where you find Criterion Collection DVDs.
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From the Collection is an analysis of non-new-release movies, whether seen on DVD, streaming, or in a theater. It includes a brief history of the film, a review of the film, and content about the experience of seeing the film and/or the contents of the film’s DVD.
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