Cocktail

 

Starring:  Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown, Elizabeth Shue

Year:  1988

Running Time:  103 minutes

Cocktail is a romantic drama based on a book by Heywood Gould.  The plot revolves around Brian Flanagan, a guy with big dreams, an even bigger ego and a tendency to make bad decisions (especially if they involve a bet).  The film won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture but won over the viewing public, grossing more than $170 million worldwide.  Sure, it's by no means the best movie to come out of the 80s but it is entertaining nonetheless and young Tom Cruise is great (despite what both he and critics have said about the role). 

The movie starts with Brian chasing down a Greyhound bus en route to NYC, set to Starship's Wild Again - an appropriate song to set the scene for his "wild" escapades to follow.  After checking in with his uncle at a bar in Queens, he heads to Wall Street in search of a job that will make his dream of becoming a millionaire a reality.  However, he is met with one rejection after another:  he needs solid credentials, he should try something else, his resume is inadequate, he needs a college degree...on the way home from a day of rejections, he spots a "help wanted" sign at a bar.

He gets the job as a barkeep but is totally overwhelmed by the loud-mouthed waitresses (with terrible hair) and impatient customers yelling at him.  He is also overwhelmed in his college classes and clashes with one of his professors.  His boss, Doug, immediately takes him under his wing ("stick with me and I'll make you a star") and shares some of his "wisdom" with the impressionable Brian such as "A bartender is the aristocrat of the working class" and "A star never pukes or passes out in public".

Brian then comes up with a plan to tend bar in Jamaica so that they can earn enough money to realize their dream of opening their own bar (Cocktails and Dreams).  However, after falling out with Doug, Brian heads to Jamaica alone (to the tropical sounds of Kokomo - and yes, he is soon falling in love to the rhythm of a steel drum band with a tropical drink melting in his hand).  He meets Jordan while working at a beach resort.  Sparks fly and before you know it they are galloping on horses, frolicking in the ocean, sipping on cocktails and getting naked under waterfalls...as one does.  That is, until a one-night stand driven by a challenge from Brian (who shows up in Jamaica on his honeymoon) and general sexism threatens to destroy his budding romance with Jordan.

The film includes the best - or worst (depending on how you look at it) - parts of the 80s: cocktails, aerobics, spiral perms, short shorts for men, oversized glasses, patterned viscose shirts and smoking inside bars.  It also seems to be a warning against the capitalist greed that defined the decade and the dangers of excess in any form.  Of course, like most romantic dramas or comedies, it also suggests that love has the power to conquer all.

On the plus side, the film boasts a first-rate soundtrack including the aforementioned Wild Again by Starship, Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin, Kokomo by The Beach Boys, Rave On by John Cougar Mellencamp and All Shook Up by Ry Cooder.  

Perhaps the movie is best enjoyed with one (or more) of the cocktails mentioned in the film, including Sex on the Beach, Singapore Sling, Alabama Slammer, Kamikaze, Orgasm and Friar Tuck.