Film

The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer

Name: The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 1970
Cast: Peter Cook, Denholm Elliott, Ronald Fraser, Arthur Lowe, Vanessa Howard

Satire

A savage 1970 satire about a charismatic sociopath who rises through opinion polling and politics by lying, flattering and scheming. Darkly funny and genuinely unsettling, it's a film that watches like a warning. Made by Monty Python alumni, it has their anarchic energy but meaner teeth—interested less in silly voices than in how power actually gets grabbed.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy deadpan satire of ambition and PR-driven politics, where a smug schemer's blankness is the joke and the period details keep biting.

Skip it if you want a plot that builds steadily or someone to root for, since this is a run of pointed sketches around a deliberately cold lead.

What it asks of you: Sharp, episodic and brisk at 94 minutes; it wants you alert to the jokes, since much of the bite sits in background details rather than big set pieces.

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

If you liked this

In the Loop2009

A scathing spin-off from *The Thick of It* about spin doctors, backroom dealing, and the absurdity of political machinery. Like *Rimmer*, it's angry satire disguised as comedy, with characters so venal they're almost magnetic.

But The quick-cutting style and dense political jargon can feel exhausting rather than exhilarating. American audiences often find it impenetrably British.

Network1976

A prescient horror-comedy about a failing TV network and the amoral executives willing to do anything for ratings. It shares *Rimmer*'s dark view of systems that reward the unscrupulous and punish principle.

But It's didactic—Paddy Chayefsky bludgeons you with his message. The rants, however iconic, can feel more lecture than lived experience.

The Wolf of Wall Street2013

Another climb-and-crash portrait of a grinning sociopath charming his way to the top. The energy is intoxicating, the moral corruption total, and the film never lets you off the hook for rooting for him.

But It's a slog—nearly three hours of excess, and Scorsese sometimes seems more in love with the lifestyle than disgusted by it. The women are mostly furniture.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Naked Civil Servant1975

Both are 1970s British portraits of men who survive through performance; one by ruthless adaptation, one by radical refusal. They're mirror images.

A two-hour BBC play about Quentin Crisp: a dandy, an outsider, utterly himself in the face of social machinery designed to crush nonconformity. It's about integrity as weapon and performance, which is *Rimmer* inverted—the man who refuses to play the game rather than masters it.

But It's slow, introspective, and makes no concession to conventional drama. Long stretches are Crisp simply existing, being witty, being watched. That's the point, but it requires patience.

All the President's Men1976

Procedural counterpoint to *Rimmer*: the story of journalists methodically dismantling a corrupt system. It's thrilling because the stakes are real, and it proves that investigation and principle occasionally still matter.

But It's slow and talky in the best sense, but 'best sense' might mean you'll check your watch. Woodward and Bernstein aren't designed to be charismatic.

Brazil1985

Terry Gilliam's apocalyptic bureaucratic nightmare where systems consume individuals and the ambitious get chewed up by machinery they don't control. Like *Rimmer*, it's paranoid satire, but fever-dream surreal rather than naturalistic.

But The plot is deliberately fragmented and the tone veers between comic and genuinely despairing. If you want narrative clarity, this will frustrate you.

Glengarry Glen Ross1992

A chamber piece about salesmen, lies, and the code of the locker room. It shares *Rimmer*'s unflinching view of how charisma and ruthlessness are currencies in worlds where conscience is a liability.

But It's relentlessly male and claustrophobic. The famous Mamet monologues are thrilling for some and self-indulgent posturing for others.

The Ladykillers1955

Ealing's elegant dark comedy about charming criminals. Like *Rimmer*, it watches a morally flexible man manipulate his way through a situation, and revels in the gap between appearance and reality.

But It's of its moment—the pacing is leisurely and the sensibility very English and post-war. Modern viewers sometimes find it quaint rather than pointed.

Being There1979

Peter Sellers as a simpleton accidentally mistaken for a sage who rises through society by saying nothing of consequence. It's about how systems reward blankness and charisma over substance—the inverse of *Rimmer* but the same dark thesis.

But The satirical point is obvious and hammered repeatedly. If you don't buy Sellers as the blank slate, the whole thing collapses.

The Producers1968

Mel Brooks's debut: two con men scheme to produce a Broadway flop and get rich. It's anarchic where *Rimmer* is controlled, but both watch small men becoming drunk on minor power and the systems that enable them.

But It's screamingly broad and sometimes feels less like satire than license to be silly. The central con is thin and the film knows it.

A Serious Man2009

Both are portraits of men navigating systems (corporate, academic, political, divine) where the rules are never quite clear and the game is rigged. *Rimmer* thrives; Larry Gopnik drowns. They're the same machinery with different luck.

The Coen Brothers' Jewish theodicy masquerading as suburban black comedy. A good man caught in systems indifferent to goodness. It's the flipside of *Rimmer*'s sociopath: what happens to the decent person in a world that rewards only shamelessness.

But It's deliberately unsatisfying and offers no moral comfort. The tone whipsaws between absurdist humor and genuine suffering. Some viewers find that admirable; others find it cruel.