Sunny beaches … flashy bars … romantic waterfalls. Tom Cruise's lowest rated
Rotten Tomatoes movie may typify cheesy 80s cinema — but that doesn't mean it's all bad.
In fact, the bar-themed Cocktail is actually worth watching. Here's why.
Tom Cruise is one of the biggest movie stars in the world, and that's been the case for a very
long time. The actor rose to prominence in the 1980s thanks to movies such as Risky Business
and Top Gun, both of which amassed plenty of favor among fans and critics alike. That said,
some of Cruise's biggest hits from his breakout decade haven't enjoyed
similar acclaim. Cocktail, released in 1988, was a financial success,
but the movie was savaged by critics, as evidenced by its 7% score on Rotten
Tomatoes. As of June 2022, it's Cruise's lowest-rated movie on the review aggregator.
Based on Heywood Gould's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, Cocktail centers around
Brian Flanagan, played by Tom Cruise, a bartender who dreams of becoming a salesman on Wall Street.
Unfortunately, the top sales firms only want to hire people with experience and college degrees,
so he pursues his fortune by opening beach bars and flirting with the gigolo lifestyle.
Along the way, he befriends a veteran bartender called Doug, played by Bryan Brown,
falls in love with a woman named Jordan, played by Elisabeth Shue,
and makes some costly mistakes. It's an experience, to say the least.
Is Cocktail the best movie in Cruise's body of work? Absolutely not.
But the film is far too entertaining to be Cruise's lowest-ranked movie.
"Bar's open!"
Cocktail is loaded with memorable moments that typify '80s cinema at its most excessive and
ridiculous, and that's a good thing if you can appreciate a little bit of cheese in your
cinematic diet. Characters juggling beer bottles at the bar like they're performing at a circus?
Check. Bartenders performing alcohol-themed poetry to a nightclub full of wealthy socialites?
Check. Fistfights at art exhibits? Check. Throw in a hip '80s soundtrack and Cruise
singing Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love," and what you have is a recipe for success.
There's no denying that Cocktail is a cheesy flick at times. However, when
you strip away the allure of the sunny beaches, romantic waterfalls, and flashy cocktail bars,
you'll find a story about a flawed man who undergoes an interesting transformation.
When we first meet Brian, he's a materialistic womanizer who only cares about making money,
which causes him to demonstrate some self-destructive behavior. By the end,
he's a changed man who values more substantial things, such as love and family.
Cocktail isn't particularly deep, but it doesn't gloss over some of the warts-and-all elements of
the protagonist's topsy-turvy journey. The original screenplay was a complicated story
about the dark side of power and money, but when Disney boarded the project, those
elements were toned down as the studio wanted the characters to be more likable and hopeful. Still,
some of those themes and ideas are still apparent in the version of Cocktail that exists today.
Doug's death, for example, is particularly upsetting, though it does drive home the
film's core message about the dangers of excess and living a vacuous, empty life.
For a movie that was marketed as a lighthearted rom-com, Cocktail still possesses a cynical
streak. Furthermore, the film's tonal shifts flow together pretty seamlessly, which is remarkable
considering that it can shift from a ridiculous moment to a harrowing one at any given time.
It'd be unfair to say that Tom Cruise makes the same movie over and over again. After all,
he's probably the best action movie star in the West, renowned for performing his
own risky stunts and going the extra mile for his fans. At the same time,
some viewers have pointed out that Cruise is drawn toward playing specific types of characters, and
they aren't wrong per se. That's not a bad thing, mind you, as audiences can't get enough of him.
"Help me! Help you."
In the 1980s, Cruise was prone to playing ambitious underdogs who wanted to be the best at
their respective vocations. Top Gun, for example, saw him portray a cocky pilot who experiences a
crisis of conscience and falls in love. His Days of Thunder character experiences a similar arc,
albeit from behind a race car steering wheel instead of the cockpit of a fighter jet.
Cocktail has a similar framework, only set within the world of bars and clubs. Cruise carries all
these movies with his trademark charm, and his performance in "Cocktail" plays to his strengths.
In short, if you're a fan of movies like Top Gun and Days of Thunder,
then Cocktail will be right up your alley – no matter what the critics said.
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