Film

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Name: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: 1967
Cast: Robert Morse, Michele Lee, Rudy Vallee, Scooter Teague, Maureen Arthur

Satire
Light-hearted

A musical comedy where an ambitious nobody climbs the corporate ladder with nothing but a self-help book and shameless charm. Slick, funny, and crackling with energy—a satire of office ambition that moves like a tap-dancing machine. For anyone who loves witty songs, clever plotting, and the art of the con.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy satire that winks at its own cynicism, with bright musical numbers and a lead who sells every line with pure nerve.

Skip it if you find jaunty office-world sketches wearing thin, or dislike a wide, theatrical style where every gag is played to the back row.

What it asks of you: Settle in for two hours of brisk, broad staging, where satire lands in bursts and the songs want you to surrender to the bounce rather than track the plot.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Singin' in the Rain1952

A pure expression of joy in filmmaking: irresistible songs, virtuoso dancing, and a romance that actually sparks. The gold standard for musicals done right, with Gene Kelly at peak brilliance.

But The plot is gossamer-thin and built on tropes from another era. If you're watching for substance, you'll find mostly air.

Glengarry Glen Ross1992

A masterclass in ruthless ambition and masculine performance. David Mamet's corrosive script exposes the cruelty beneath corporate motivational rhetoric with surgical precision and dark humour.

But It's talky, mean-spirited, and almost entirely male. The relentless pressure and cynicism can feel suffocating rather than fun.

Working Girl1988

A sharp, funny climb-the-ladder film that gets the office politics and character dynamics exactly right. Melanie Griffith is wonderful, and it finds real warmth under the satire.

But The fashion and some gender politics have dated in ways that occasionally distract from the story.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Matewan1987

Both are about individuals navigating and climbing systems of power, but Matewan asks what the cost of that climbing actually is—what Finch's rise elides.

John Sayles' film about labor organizing captures the same obsessive drive to climb or resist systems of power, but transposes it to 1920s Appalachia. It's serious, beautifully shot, and morally complex in ways that deepen your thinking about ambition itself.

But It's slow, regional, and ends in violence. There are no songs, no winking, and the mood is elegiac. Completely different register.

Dreamgirls2006

Musical ambition on a huge scale: soaring songs, exceptional performances, and genuine stakes around success and failure. Jamie Foxx and Beyoncé deliver powerhouse moments.

But It's long and emotionally heavy in places. The narrative can feel overcomplicated, and not every song lands with the same force.

Hairspray2007

A musical that's genuinely joyful, energetic, and kind-hearted. John Waters' sensibility meets a Broadway song catalogue, and the whole thing is impossible not to enjoy.

But The sweetness can feel saccharine if you're not in the mood for it. Some numbers drag slightly in the middle.

The Producers1968

Mel Brooks at his sharpest: a con-man comedy about two failed producers trying to stage a deliberate flop. Outrageous, quotable, and endlessly clever about show business.

But The humor is broad and the sensibility is distinctly 1967. Some gags feel more silly than genuinely funny in retrospect.

His Girl Friday1940

The template for fast-talking romantic comedies: rapid-fire wit, perfect chemistry between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, and a plot that zips along like a news wire.

But The pacing requires you to keep up, and some of the newsroom politics feel quaintly dated. Dialogue-heavy throughout.

Nine to Five1980

A feminist workplace comedy that's actually funny while making a real point about office power dynamics. Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin have real chemistry and comic timing.

But The fantasy sequences feel indulgent, and some of the satire has softened with time. The final message is quite mild.

Swimming with Sharks1994

A dark, intense chamber piece about abuse and manipulation in Hollywood. Kevin Spacey is terrifying, and it offers a brutal counterpoint to office comedy tropes.

But It's hostile and claustrophobic for most of its runtime. If you want fun or escapism, this is the opposite.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike2012

Both are structure-obsessed comedies about status games and how to navigate them. This one just strips away the music and the corporate setting to focus on what people actually want.

A contemporary stage comedy adapted to film that shares DNA with musicals: sharp, self-aware, rhythmic. It's about three middle-aged siblings dealing with their famous sister and her new boyfriend—very chatty, very funny, surprising emotional weight.

But It's entirely dialogue-based and theatrical. If you're not listening closely, the humor will pass you by. The stakes feel small.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike poster

The Killing of a Sacred Deer2017

Both examine men using intelligence and charm to climb or maintain positions of power. Here, that power is finally shown to have teeth—the comfortable fiction of consequence-free ambition collapses into horror.

Yorgos Lanthimos creates an unsettling parallel universe where a surgeon's family is systematically destroyed by a mysterious boy and his family. Formally strange, darkly funny, and deliberately artificial in tone—a dissection of masculine control and consequence that hums with dread.

But It's deeply weird, deliberately slow, and ends in tragedy. The performances are eerily stilted. Many viewers find it alienating rather than moving.