Laden with Brechtian gags, pop-modern design, and the linguistic tics of the three- (or seven-) martini-lunch crowd, Tashlin's masterpiece is a brilliantly composed ode to and exposé of the media business, which is to say American culture. Tony Randall plays Rockwell Hunter, a midlevel TV adman who can only dream of winning the key to the executive washroom—until he lands the endorsement of mock-Marilyn Rita Marlowe (Jayne Mansfield) for the Stay-Put Lipstick account. In need of a lover for public purposes, Rita chooses the convenient Rock (“his name sounds very influential”) and suddenly he's the biggest thing since chlorophyll, a cartoon figure of manhood in an oversized suit and elevator shoes. “Success will fit you like a shroud,” prophesies the prexy of the agency. When Rock glimpses the coveted executive toilet, he sheds tears of hideous joy; witnessing this world in which all desires are both vulgar and abstract, you could either laugh or cry. But don't worry, everything will be solvey-solvey.
—Juliet Clark