How to Succeed in Business Without Really TryingMovies like How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
- Key Features:
- Corporate satire, Musical, Ambitious protagonist, Self-help, Office politics, Social climbing, Ruthlessness, Cunning, Blackmail, Romantic subplot, Struggle, Escapism
- Tone:
- humorous, satirical, witty
- Target Audience:
- Musical fans, Comedy lovers, Cynical viewers, Those interested in social commentary
- Emotional Arc:
- Amusement → Excitement
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

A young but bright former window cleaner rises to the top of his company by following the advice of a book about ruthless advancement in business.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
A failed Broadway singer who now works as a production manager must save opening night on his new production by wrangling his eccentric cast and crew.

A mild-mannered secretary discovers that she has a talent for murder as she ascends the corporate ladder.

To save his career, an ad man wants a sex symbol to endorse a lipstick but in exchange, she wants him to pretend to be her lover.

A titan of industry is sent to prison after she's caught for insider trading. When she emerges ready to rebrand herself as America's latest sweetheart, not everyone she screwed over is so quick to forgive and forget.

A young professional woman unwittingly becomes the pawn of two business executives in their bid to oust the head of a mega-conglomerate.

A down-and-out gangster hires a down-on-his-luck agent to make his girlfriend a recording star within six weeks.

Paul Martin is the subservient brown-nosing youngster who needs quick advancement up the hierarchy to pay for the modern lifestyle he is buying on credit. Seeing that marrying his immediate superior's daughter will not get him the results he wants, he begins plotting the demise of the head of the company. The company itself specializes in holiday travel and unscrupulously brutalizes its customers for maximum profit, spending more thought on publicity gimmicks than customer service...

Franck just had the most crazy and wonderful idea for a company that would finally get him and his friends proper jobs. As Uber delivers food, Amazon daily items, Song Express will deliver songs. To your friends, or your loved one, or yourself, anywhere you want. It is brilliant, it is foolish, it could work… For Franck, Jean-Claude, Sophie and José, Song Express becomes something more than just a professional challenge: it is the dream of a lifetime.

A Broadway artiste turns a faded film star's comeback vehicle into an artsy flop.

Broadway producer Max Bialystock and his accountant, Leo Bloom, plan to make money by charming wealthy old biddies to invest in a production many times over the actual cost, and then put on a sure-fire flop, so nobody will ask for their money back – and what can be a more certain flop than a tasteless musical celebrating Hitler.

A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.

An ambitious singing and dancing cat in 1939 Hollywood overcomes several obstacles to fulfill his dream of becoming a movie star.

Two female friends with very different ideals decide to start a beauty company together. One is more practical, while the other wants to earn her fortune and live a lavish lifestyle.

Conglomerated Assets, a brokerage firm is sinking fast as its CEO checks out and leaves the company to his inept film school drop out son. Enter Quincy, Waverly, Erica, Rudy, Tina and Yasmine. Team QWERTY--six sexy secretaries that must save the day.

Rahul Joshi wants to be a successful businessman so he works hard for his boss Siddharth. One day Rahul meets Seema, an up and coming model, and he feels like he's finally met his match. Will Seema fall for Rahul?

After a talent scout spots her performing with her dog Boi at a charity gala, Sharpay Evans sets off for the bright lights of NYC, convinced instant fame and fortune are in the bag. But theatre's a dog-eat-dog world. Fortunately, Sharpay also meets Peyton, a handsome student filmmaker who finds Sharpay nearly as fascinating as she finds herself.

A naive business graduate is installed as president of a manufacturing company as part of a stock scam.

Broadway producer Max Bialystock and his accountant, Leo Bloom plan to make money by charming wealthy old biddies to invest in a production many times over the actual cost, and then put on a sure-fire flop, so nobody will ask for their money back – and what can be a more certain flop than a tasteless musical celebrating Hitler.

Pressure from his boss and a skin-cream client produces a talking boil on a British adman's neck.

Katya Livingston, a self-centered, obnoxious and conceited 28-year-old ad sales exec, won't let anything or anyone stand in her way in getting to the top of the San Francisco social ladder. When tax inspectors question her claims Katya is forced to keep a financial diary and finds time to add details about her friends, enemies and lovers all from her unique point of view.

An ambitious coffee salesman has a series of improbable and ironic adventures seemingly designed to challenge his naive idealism.

A nebbish schoolteacher begs his smooth (and misogynistic) pal to teach him 'the knack' – how to score with women. Serendipitously, the men meet up with a new girl in town, as well as a friendly lunatic who can’t help but paint things white.

Hapless Henry Palfrey is patronised by his self-important chief clerk at work, ignored by restaurant waiters, conned by shady second-hand car salesmen, and, worst of all, endlessly wrong-footed by unspeakably rotten cad Raymond Delauney who has set his cap at April, new love of Palfrey's life. In desperation Henry enrolls at the College of Lifemanship to learn how to best such bounders and win the girl.

Joe Gideon is at the top of the heap, one of the most successful directors and choreographers in musical theater. But he can feel his world slowly collapsing around him - his obsession with work has almost destroyed his personal life, and only his bottles of pills keep him going.

Uncouth, loud-mouth junkyard tycoon Harry Brock descends upon Washington D.C. to buy himself a congressman or two, bringing with him his mistress, ex-showgirl Billie Dawn.

A hapless talent manager named Danny Rose, by helping a client, gets dragged into a love triangle involving the mob. His story is told in flashback, an anecdote shared amongst a group of comedians over lunch at New York's Carnegie Deli. Rose's one-man talent agency represents countless incompetent entertainers, including a one-legged tap dancer, and one slightly talented one: washed-up lounge singer Lou Canova, whose career is on the rebound.

A group of dancers congregate on the stage of a Broadway theatre to audition for a new musical production directed by Zach. After the initial eliminations, seventeen hopefuls remain, among them Cassie, who once had a tempestuous romantic relationship with Zach. She is desperate enough for work to humble herself and audition for him; whether he's willing to let professionalism overcome his personal feelings about their past remains to be seen.

Brantley Foster, a well-educated kid from Kansas, has always dreamed of making it big in New York, but once in New York, he learns that jobs - and girls - are hard to get. When Brantley visits his uncle, Howard Prescott, who runs a multi-million-dollar company, he is given a job in the company's mail room.

Think you've got what it takes to be the boss? This interactive special puts your skills to the test and matches you up with one of 16 jobs at Baby Corp.

A mid-level corporate employee finds out he’s not getting the Christmas bonus he was expecting, but his boss invites him to earn a promotion by beating his professional rival in a violent competition.

Eccentric bellhop Stanley Belt is recruited unexpectedly by the comedy team of a recently deceased entertainer. Stanley struggles to become a song-and-dance man as the team grooms him to become a star. But as the date of a high-stakes appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show grows near, they begin to fear that the only astonishing thing about Stanley is his utter lack of talent.

A home, a motorcar, servants, the latest fashions: the most eligible and most finicky bachelor in Paris offers them all to Gigi. But she, who's gone from girlish gawkishness to cultured glamour before our eyes, yearns for that wonderful something money can't buy.

A small town girl and a city boy meet on the Sunset Strip, while pursuing their Hollywood dreams.

Molly and Terry Donahue, plus their three children, are The Five Donahues. Youngest son Tim meets hat-check girl Vicky and the family act begins to fall apart.

Talent and passion for music can take one to the very top. On the way, however, there are going to be showbiz traps.

After a big-time country singer brags that she can turn anybody in to a country-singin' star, she's out to prove she can live up to her talk when she recruits a cab-driver as a country singer. He's scheduled to sing at a big-time NYC country night club and she puts her ample powers to work in preparing her protege.

Following a childhood tragedy, Dewey Cox follows a long and winding road to music stardom. Dewey perseveres through changing musical styles, an addiction to nearly every drug known and bouts of uncontrollable rage.

The owner of an Information Technology firm wants to sell his business for profit. The trouble is that when he started his firm he invented a nonexistent company president to hide behind when unpopular steps needed to be taken. When potential purchasers insist on negotiating with the "Boss" face to face the owner has to hire a failed actor to play the part.

Swope—the only black man on the executive board of an advertising firm—is accidentally put in charge after the death of the chairman.

A depressed white-collar worker tries hypnotherapy, only to find himself in a perpetual state of devil-may-care bliss that prompts him to start living by his own rules, and hatch a hapless attempt to embezzle money from his soul-killing employers.

An uptight advertising exec has his entire life in a filofax organizer which mistakenly ends up in the hands of a friendly convict who poses as him.

Three women set out to find eligible millionaires to marry, but find true love in the process.

A popular high school athlete and an academically gifted girl get roles in the school musical and develop a friendship that threatens East High's social order.

When he hears that the new female employee digs ambitious men who are the store employee of the month, a slacker gets his act together but finds himself in competition with his rival, an ambitious co-worker.

In a cold French city where suicide is a common urge, there is a colorful shop, managed for many years by the Tuvache family, where it is very easy to obtain the necessary tools to satisfy the sinister desires of so many depressed citizens.

An egotistical saxophone player and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long uphill climb.

Three female employees of a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot find a way to turn the tables on him.

Madison Avenue executive Graham Marshall has paid his dues. A talented and devoted worker, he has suffered through mounting bills and a nagging wife with one thing to look forward to: a well-deserved promotion. But when the promotion is given to a loud-mouthed yuppie associate, Graham unleashes his rage on an overly aggressive panhandler, who he accidently kills by pushing him into the path of an oncoming subway train. He re-thinks his problems with an entirely new solution. First, he arranges an "accident" for his annoying wife. Then he creates another "mishap" for his boss. It seems like the world is once more Graham's oyster…but a missing cigarette lighter and a prying police detective may change all that.

From the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington is determined to take the reins of power away from the great actress Margo Channing. Eve maneuvers her way into Margo's Broadway role, becomes a sensation and even causes turmoil in the lives of Margo's director boyfriend, her playwright and his wife. Only the cynical drama critic sees through Eve, admiring her audacity and perfect pattern of deceit.

A comedy about an absent-minded man who works at a advertising company and topples from one problem to another.

In a pseudo-futuristic 1994, a square couple enter the corrupt world of the music industry, and subsequently a maze of drugs, sex, and temptation.

Omar gets an office job at Relotech, where he becomes the boss's favourite, which is great, until it’s not.

The lives of two struggling musicians, who happen to be brothers, inevitably change when they team up with a beautiful, up-and-coming singer.

When a secretary's idea is stolen by her boss, she seizes an opportunity to steal it back by pretending she has her boss' job.

Dale, Kurt and Nick decide to start their own business but things don't go as planned because of a slick investor, prompting the trio to pull off a harebrained and misguided kidnapping scheme.

A group of yuppies fight over a group of office stooges for the control of a shoe factory.

Daniel and Stéphane, two salesmen working in the same store but who cannot stand each other, decide despite everything to team up to participate in television games so they can pay their debts.

An effervescent musical about one of the most unlikely couples seen on screen: two Otaku intent on hiding their nerdiness from their colleagues!

Value Shop assistant manager Maya Vargas wants only one thing for her 43rd birthday -- a promotion. While her résumé may not scream upper management, her track record certainly does; she is an innovator who listens to her customers and delivers results. When she loses the job to a college-educated candidate, Maya sets out to prove to Madison Avenue that street smarts are as valuable as book smarts -- and it's never too late for a second act.

Marcus is a successful advertising executive who woos and beds women almost at will. After a company merger he finds that his new boss, the ravishing Jacqueline, is treating him in exactly the same way. Completely traumatised by this, his work goes badly downhill.

A slacker hatches a million-dollar idea. But, in order to see it through, he has to learn to trust his attractive corporate counterpart. Based on Max Barry's novel.

A 12-year-old boy searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world.

Rags follows the story of Charlie Prince, an orphan living with his acerbic and unloving stepfather and spoiled, simple-minded stepbrothers. Charlie's dream is to be a singer, and while he is vocally talented and can write music, he can't seem to catch a break. Kadee Worth, on the other hand, is the daughter of music mogul Reginald Worth and is an international pop phenomenon. While the world knows her as a glamorous superstar, she is secretly frustrated with singing other people's songs and wearing clothes other people choose for her. Kadee wants the world to hear and see her true talent. Despite every obstacle that gets thrown in their way, once Charlie and Kadee find one another, they each finally get what they have been looking for – a voice, a stage, an audience and each other.

As a writer named Mike struggles to shepherd his semi-autobiographical sitcom into development, his vision is slowly eroded by a domineering network executive named Lenny who favors trashy reality programming. The irony, of course, is that every crass suggestion Lenny makes improves the show's response from test audiences and brings the show a step closer to getting on the air.

Pinnacle records has the perfect plan to get their sinking company back on track: a comeback concert in LA featuring Aldous Snow, a fading rockstar who has dropped off the radar in recent years. Record company intern Aaron Green is faced with the monumental task of bringing his idol, out of control rock star Aldous Snow, back to LA for his comeback show.

Ted Ryker is the top salesman in the New York office of a business machine company; the corporate stock lives by quarterly sales numbers, the competition is keen, and the economy may be in a downturn. Ted's company is marking time until a new product is ready – probably in a few months. Into the mix comes a new hire, a callow Midwesterner named Jamie, who's come East with his fiancée Belisa.

Kat is an aspiring singer-songwriter who dreams of making it big. However, her dreams are stalled by her reality: a conniving and cruel stepfamily and a demoralizing job working as a singing elf at billionaire Terrence Wintergarden’s Santa Land.

When Josh gets the opportunity of a lifetime to audition for Rainbow Puppy’s Broadway musical, Josh and Blue skidoo to NYC for the very first time where they meet new friends and discover the magic of music, dance, and following one’s dreams.

An Italian mechanic finds that he has inherited a billion-dollar company from his dead uncle, but he needs to be in San Francisco in 20 days to sign over the will. In the meantime, he is chased by kidnappers and the affected corporation's president.

A prim and proper schoolgirl goes against her society grandmother's wishes when she dates a motorcycle-riding juvenile delinquent.

Four guys working for a small grocer in trouble, declare war on a new giant neighborhood supermarket by attempting several coups. A film about the big store taking over the business of smaller stores.

When a hapless but dedicated talent manager signs his first client who actually has talent, his career finally starts to take off.

Alicia is a workaholic executive who suddenly loses her job and her family. In her process of rebuilding, she associates with a neighbor and helps her in her business. This is how she manages to be the most successful businesswoman in the country. During this process, she tries to reconquer her husband, only to realize that in order to return with him, she will have to learn to balance work and family life.

Andy, a successful marketing guy quits his job, gets a new job at a research facility, makes a powerful enemy who makes him volunteer for a nearly impossible project: The $99 PC. The only available guys at the lab, three sociopaths, together they compile a revolutionary PC for $99, then they become the victims of a venture capitalist and Andy's old foe, can he find a way to overcome the problems?

A struggling songwriter named Dave Seville finds success when he comes across a trio of singing chipmunks: mischievous leader Alvin, brainy Simon, and chubby, impressionable Theodore.

A movie producer who made a huge flop tries to salvage his career by revamping his film as an erotic production, where its family-friendly star takes her top off.

A snobbish investor and a wily street con-artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.

Harper was one of the best dancers to hit Broadway, but an injury caused her to leave the spotlight, become a choreographer, and raise her daughter Mirabella. When Mirabella decides to quit the show to get married, her mother is determined to put a stop to the wedding and show Mirabella that she cannot give up her career for love.

Self-made millionaire Thornton Melon decides to get a better education and enrolls at his son Jason's college. While Jason tries to fit in with his fellow students, Thornton struggles to gain his son's respect, giving way to hilarious antics.

Jesús Quesada, an incompetent executive, is appointed as the new director of a company in decline whose survival will now depend on both the ingenuity and ambition of his former colleagues.

Emma Corrigan, a girl with a few secrets, thinks she’s about to die on a turbulent plane ride. She spills them all to the handsome stranger sitting next to her. At least, she thought he was a stranger. But then, her company’s young and elusive CEO, arrives at the office. It’s him. And he knows every single humiliating detail about her.

To climb the corporate ladder to success, a businessman agrees to coach his company's all-girl soccer team with the help of his secret weapon: his fiancee's son.

An underachieving vocal coach is motivated by her father, the king of movie-trailer voice-overs, to pursue her aspirations of becoming a voice-over star. Amidst pride, sexism and family dysfunction, she sets out to change the voice of a generation.

A musical biopic of the Four Seasons—the rise, the tough times and personal clashes, and the ultimate triumph of a group of friends whose music became symbolic of a generation. Far from a mere tribute concert, it gets to the heart of the relationships at the centre of the group, with a special focus on frontman Frankie Valli, the small kid with the big falsetto.

Famous singer Fanny Brice has divorced her first husband Nicky Arnstein. During the Great Depression she has trouble finding work as an artist, but meets Billy Rose, a newcomer who writes lyrics and owns a nightclub.

The frustrating adventures of a humble employee who all the time has to fullfill the wishes and desires of his bosses.

Josie, Melody and Val are three small-town girl musicians determined to take their rock band out of their garage and straight to the top, while remaining true to their look, style and sound. They get a record deal which brings fame and fortune but soon realize they are pawns of two people who want to control the youth of America. They must clear their names, even if it means losing fame and fortune.

When a struggling publisher discovers his only successful author is blocked, he knows he has to unblock her or he's finished. With her newfound success, she's become too happy and she can't write when she's happy. The only trouble is, the worse he makes her feel, the more he realizes he's in love with her.

A washed-up '80s pop star gets a chance at a comeback when reigning pop diva Cora Corman invites him to write & record a duet with her, but there's a problem--Alex hasn't written a song in years; he's never written lyrics and he has to come up with a hit in a matter of days.

A rich millionaire hires a sophisticated journalist to bring his somewhat dim-witted girlfriend up to the level of his peers. He fears that the showgirl's lack of etiquette may damage his own social reputation and tries to change her — but fails to realise that her enhanced eloquence will empower her to voice her own strong opinions.

Gladys Glover has just lost her modeling job when she meets filmmaker Pete Sheppard shooting a documentary in Central Park. For Pete it's love at first sight, but Gladys has her mind on other things, making a name for herself. Through a fluke of advertising she winds up with her name plastered over 10 billboards throughout city.

A young and impatient stockbroker is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless and greedy corporate raider, whom takes the youth under his wing.

Exploring every facet of ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle, this biopic takes audiences on a truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic’s life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time.

To save her parents' small-town nightclub, a Broadway dancer stages an all-male, Christmas-themed revue — and meets a guy with all the right moves.

Julio Blanco is the proprietor of Básculas Blanco, a Spanish company producing industrial scales in a provincial Spanish town, which awaits the imminent visit from a committee that will decide if they merit a local Business Excellence award: everything has to be perfect when the time comes. Working against the clock, Blanco pulls out all the stops to address and resolve issues with his employees, crossing every imaginable line in the process.

On the brink of turning 30, a promising theater composer navigates love, friendship and the pressure to create something great before time runs out.



