Cocktail
starring: Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown, Elisabeth Shue, Lisa Banes, Laurence Luckinbill
directed by: Roger Donaldson
directed by: Roger Donaldson
List Price: $14.99
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Product Description:
Two bartenders at a busy Manhattan watering hole dream of someday owning their own bars. Their present lives consist of elaborate drink-mixing performances and sleeping with many of the female customers, until a fight over a woman causes the younger bartender to flee to Jamaica.In Jamaica he finds true love with a vacationing waitress, but blows it when his materialist instincts get the better of him and he takes up with a wealthy, older, New York fashion designer. She brings him back to the city, where he lives as a kept man for a time, but realizing that love will make him happier than money, he seeks out the waitress, and tries to win her back.
Amazon.com:
This 1988 effort at creating a milestone coming-of-age story with the impact of The Graduate is commendable, but the results are mostly shaky and garish. Tom Cruise plays an ambitious young man who arrives in New York City and becomes known as a flashy bartender in a hot club. After falling for Elisabeth Shue's girl-next-door character, however, his desire for success causes him to travel down a more selfish path with an older woman. The film, directed by Roger Donaldson (Bounty), is built on entirely on appearances (Cruise's star charisma) and flash (the way Cruise and his character's bartending mentor, played by Bryan Brown, toss bottles of booze around). The more interesting and underlying themes, however, particularly the hero's obvious Oedipal dilemmas, are lost beneath this window dressing, as if everyone involved was afraid to commit to the story's intrinsic value. Cruise fans might want to take a look at this, but otherwise there isn't much to recommend it. --Tom Keogh
Two bartenders at a busy Manhattan watering hole dream of someday owning their own bars. Their present lives consist of elaborate drink-mixing performances and sleeping with many of the female customers, until a fight over a woman causes the younger bartender to flee to Jamaica.In Jamaica he finds true love with a vacationing waitress, but blows it when his materialist instincts get the better of him and he takes up with a wealthy, older, New York fashion designer. She brings him back to the city, where he lives as a kept man for a time, but realizing that love will make him happier than money, he seeks out the waitress, and tries to win her back.
Amazon.com:
This 1988 effort at creating a milestone coming-of-age story with the impact of The Graduate is commendable, but the results are mostly shaky and garish. Tom Cruise plays an ambitious young man who arrives in New York City and becomes known as a flashy bartender in a hot club. After falling for Elisabeth Shue's girl-next-door character, however, his desire for success causes him to travel down a more selfish path with an older woman. The film, directed by Roger Donaldson (Bounty), is built on entirely on appearances (Cruise's star charisma) and flash (the way Cruise and his character's bartending mentor, played by Bryan Brown, toss bottles of booze around). The more interesting and underlying themes, however, particularly the hero's obvious Oedipal dilemmas, are lost beneath this window dressing, as if everyone involved was afraid to commit to the story's intrinsic value. Cruise fans might want to take a look at this, but otherwise there isn't much to recommend it. --Tom Keogh
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Best Tom Cruise movie
I'm not a huge fan of Tom Cruise, but I think this is probably his best movie in my opinion. This is the right role for his cocky attitude. This is a great 1980s movie too. It has a lot of the themes from that time period. Of course the movie is probably most famous for the bottle-spinning slick bartending and banter between Cruise and Bryan Brown. It's almost like two great movies rolled into one. One movie is the whole get-rich decadent 1980s scene and the other is a halfway decent romantic movie. ... Read More
Rating: 
- Interesting Plot Twists, But Very Idealized
My boyfriend really wanted to rent this movie, but we could not find it anywhere-- so I went ahead and bought a copy here on amazon. I didn't know what to expect, my boyfriend was a 'flare' bar-tender while in college (he does those amazing stunts while making drinks).
Anyhoo. I can typically figure out the plot, the intended morals of the film- and most all the corporate sponsors of a film in about 15 mins of the start. This one was much more difficult-- it portrayed the way, I am sure ... Read More
Rating: - Favorite Movie
This was my favorite movie growing up and I'm glad they made it into a DVD so I can continue watching it!
Rating: - Coughlin's Law: anything else is always something better
Cocktail is a good but not great movie. You might even call it a bad movie, but it is thoroughly enjoyable, kind of a Flashdance or Showgirls, but with drinks instead of dancing. It is a classic Horatio Alger tale, a rags-to-riches, work hard and you'll achieve the American Dream kind of fable. There is the obligatory scene where a teacher, bitter about failure in the real world, takes it out on his students. There is the mentor who helps him achieve the American Dream. And there is the boy meets girl, ... Read More
Rating: - Good all around entertainment
Just a great favorite of mine from a while back.Always loved Elisabeth Shue!
- Best Tom Cruise movieI'm not a huge fan of Tom Cruise, but I think this is probably his best movie in my opinion. This is the right role for his cocky attitude. This is a great 1980s movie too. It has a lot of the themes from that time period. Of course the movie is probably most famous for the bottle-spinning slick bartending and banter between Cruise and Bryan Brown. It's almost like two great movies rolled into one. One movie is the whole get-rich decadent 1980s scene and the other is a halfway decent romantic movie. ... Read More
- Interesting Plot Twists, But Very IdealizedMy boyfriend really wanted to rent this movie, but we could not find it anywhere-- so I went ahead and bought a copy here on amazon. I didn't know what to expect, my boyfriend was a 'flare' bar-tender while in college (he does those amazing stunts while making drinks).
Anyhoo. I can typically figure out the plot, the intended morals of the film- and most all the corporate sponsors of a film in about 15 mins of the start. This one was much more difficult-- it portrayed the way, I am sure ... Read More
- Favorite MovieThis was my favorite movie growing up and I'm glad they made it into a DVD so I can continue watching it!
- Coughlin's Law: anything else is always something betterCocktail is a good but not great movie. You might even call it a bad movie, but it is thoroughly enjoyable, kind of a Flashdance or Showgirls, but with drinks instead of dancing. It is a classic Horatio Alger tale, a rags-to-riches, work hard and you'll achieve the American Dream kind of fable. There is the obligatory scene where a teacher, bitter about failure in the real world, takes it out on his students. There is the mentor who helps him achieve the American Dream. And there is the boy meets girl, ... Read More
- Good all around entertainmentJust a great favorite of mine from a while back.Always loved Elisabeth Shue!
