How To Get Ahead in Advertising

This could be a hard sell: Dennis Bagley is a hot-wired, hyper-verbal advertising executive whose motto is, "whatever it is, sell it." Although he can, he proclaims, sell shampoo to a bald man, he's at a loss to come up with a campaign for a pimple cream. Suffering from writer's block and gripped with deadline pressures, Bagley eventually sprouts a boil on his shoulder that gradually acquires eyes, mouth and a mocking voice that only he can hear. This "unwholesome pustule" takes on a life of its own--Bagley's, in fact, and soon it is Bagley who winds up as the boil on his evil twin. Directed by Bruce Robinson and starring Richard E. Grant, who collaborated earlier on the cult hit Withnail & I, this 1989 surreal comedy does have its selling points. Lightning, however, did not exactly strike twice. While Robinson is a demon with dialogue, and Grant gives a bravura performance, the script is just not terribly funny. Nor does Robinson have anything really fresh to say about advertising that, say, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? didn't already nail in the heyday of the gray flannel suit. Taken in combination with the lack of extras on this disc, consider this an optional purchase at best. (K. Lee Benson)