Cocktail

There was something about Tom Cruise in this film that shows him at his most engaging and fun. His character "Brian" wants to get on in life - but at every turn his limited of education gets in the way. Despondent, he heads to a bar where he encounters "Doug" (Bryan Brown) and next thing we know, he is a cocktail barman. A bit slow to start off with, but soon he has the clientele eating out of his hand as his charm and cheekiness soon show he has a real skill for this job. The first half hour or so are actually quite lively and entertaining. We also get a sense of just how hard - manic, even - it is to be behind the bar in a busy venue - maybe I will show a little more patience next time I have to wait for my Sauvignon Blanc (though probabl...

Fun 80s flick starts shallow, gets deeper

Bent on financial success, a young ex-soldier (Tom Cruise) becomes an expert bartender in Manhattan while attending college in order to make it on Wall Street. Then a dream surfaces to establish a nightclub in Jamaica. Bryan Brown plays his cynical mentor while Elisabeth Shue and Lisa Banes are on hand as romantic interests.

Cocktail (1988) is an entertaining Cruise-led 80s flick that starts energetic, amusing and shallow but, thankfully, fleshes out the characters for something deeper. Its fun in a snappy way, yet hindered by a feeling of unreality in the first half, which is resolved in the second.

Brown is reminiscent of Michael Caine while Shue is in her prime, although her beauty...