How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) - Robinson harpoons advertising world with pointed satire

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A giant screen crushes through the earth on this mysterious poster for Bruce Robinson's How to Get Ahead in Advertising

A successful advertising man in London is pressured by deadlines and develops a zit on his throat, which talks, and which grows bigger and stronger ...

How to Get Ahead in Advertising is written and directed by Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I (1987)).

For a British film, Robinson's are uncharacteristically outspoken and frank, and this one is a gem in the absurd-comedy genre with high energy, many good ideas, - the story's premise in itself is a minor stroke of genius, - and good acting: Rachel Ward (Double Jeopardy (1992, TV movie)) is lovely as the wife; both Richard Wilson (Women Talking Dirty (2001)) as the boss, and John Shrapnel (Alien Autopsy (2006)) as the psychiatrist are excellent, and Richard E. Grant (Tooth (2004)) is impressively credible as the mentally unwrapping protagonist.

Towards the end, the film seems to give up on its plot and develop in an almost entirely polemic direction, as the contrast between the now materialistically rejecting ad man and the excited consumerist personality grown from his neck gets the main stage, which is a shame. But How to Get Ahead in Advertising is still a very funny and original film.

 

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Bruce Robinson: 2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess

The Rum Diary (2011) or, The Puerto Rican Adventure of Mr. Kemp 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 670k $ - North America and the UK only

= Uncertain

[How to Get Ahead in Advertising premiered 30 March (New York) and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place around June 1988 in England, including in London. The film grossed 418k $ in North America, and 201k £ in the UK, coming to around 252k $, and around 670k $ combined. It was also released in West Germany and Japan. The film's theatrical status is impossible to ascertain without knowing more, especially its budget. Robinson returned with Jennifer 8 (1992). Grant returned in Warlock (1989); Ward in Shadow of the Cobra (1989, miniseries) and theatrically in After Dark, My Sweet (1990). How to Get Ahead in Advertising is fresh at 60 % with a 6.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of How to Get Ahead in Advertising?

The Rum Diary (2011) or, The Puerto Rican Adventure of Mr. Kemp

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+ Best Comeback Movie of the Year (Bruce Robinson and Johnny Depp)

Johnny Depp looks dapper on this poster for Bruce Robinson's The Rum Diary

Paul Kemp is a failed writer, who has taken a job as a journalist on the English-language newspaper in Puerto Rico. One of the island's young rich men offers him something else, but Kemp is more interested in the man's girlfriend...

The Rum Diary features Johnny Depp's (From Hell (2001)) probably best performance since The Libertine (2004), (if we don't count his second run as Cap. Jack Sparrow in the entertaining first sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006).) - He's on fire here! 
The film is the second adaptation of a book by Hunter S. Thompson, following Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), which also starred Depp in the leading gonzo journalist role. Rum Diary is adapted and directed by another wild English director, Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I (1987)), and it's the first film he has directed in 19 years! (Ever since Jennifer 8 (1992)).
At first I was a little disappointed about Robinson's approach to the material, which feels about 90% more sober, straight and downplayed compared to Gilliam's great, wacky film.
But then fairly soon this wildly enjoyable third world adventure took a solid grip in me anyway, especially due to the originality of the story and the excellent actors at play in it: Michael Rispoli (Rob the Mob (2014)) as Kemp's buddy Sala; Giovanni Ribisi (Ted (2012)) is hysterical as an alcoholic; Richard Jenkins (The Kingdom (2007)) is perfect as a disillusioned, wig-bearing editor; Amber Heard (Pineapple Express (2008)) is dreamy; Aaron Eckhart (Any Given Sunday (1999)) is infuriating as a bona fide douche-bag, and Bill Smitrovich (Eagle Eye (2008)) is larger-than-life as another total asshole. - They all make The Rum Diary a very entertaining, good time.

Related posts:
 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
 

Watch the funny trailer for the film here

Cost: 45 mil. $
Box office: 23.9 mil. $
= Huge flop
[The Rum Diary came out nearly 2½ years after its production. Robinson has related that he drank while writing the script and also during the shoot, which was done on location in Puerto Rico. The film opened to a weak 5.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 13.1 mil. $ (55 % of the total gross) and was greeted by lukewarm reviews. It stands as one of several very costly flops in Depp's recent track record as a starring actor (Dark Shadows (2012), The Lone Ranger (2013), Transcendence (2014), and Mortdecai (2015) all contribute to the regrettable statistics), but he has still said that he is interested in playing the lead in yet another of his late friend Thompson's novels. Film Excess hopes to see him back in B.O. shape later this year in Barry Levinson's highly anticipated gangster movie Black Mass.]

What do you think of The Rum Diary?
Are you eager to see Depp play Whitey Bulger in Black Mass (2015)?