Cocktail is a strange movie. So strange that I’m not sure what to say about it. I think my perception before I saw it the first time was that it was mostly just about Tom Cruise flipping bottles and grinning at people. But it’s actually largely about pursuing money. I think in a lot of ways this movie could even be seen as a companion to Risky Business.
Cruise’s character, Bryan Flanagan, does a lot of things in the pursuit of money during the course of Cocktail including moving to Jamaica, and cheating on his girlfriend with whom he has just had sex in a waterfall. He gets a job at a massive bar designed to look like a prison, where the loud synth-based dance music is occasionally interrupted to allow people to recite horrible poetry, and we are told that this is the hottest club in New York City.
I think the problem ends up being one of tone. The feel and mood are very off-putting to me. It is a surprisingly heavy movie and features what should be very emotional moments, but no one ever really seems to be affected by them. Characters commit suicide and betray each other in serious ways and the next scene is always Bryan grinning at someone and making a colorful drink. You never see the impact of a moment outside of a character reacting for 30 seconds. Then the moment is forgotten, the characters don’t change, and the next plot point arrives.
But at the same time, this is quintessential Cruise. I think the most notable thing about his career is that he’s always trying. He’s like a great NBA defender who makes up for a lack of the nuance and subtle skill mastery required to score by using his physicality and effort to dominate the opponent. Cruise learned how to pour and flip liquor bottles like a pro for this role, and you can tell every time the camera zooms in that the scenes wouldn’t work with a stunt double or camera trickery.
Maybe this is why the 1980s were a perfect time to make Tom Cruise a star. His natural dorkiness fit an era which popularized expression in the most un-subtle ways possible. Bright colors. Glam rock. Cocaine. Cruise and Bryan Brown dance around behind the bar shaking their shoulders and high-fiving like the Festrunk brothers. The quiet, brooding hipster has no power here. There is no “je ne sais quoi”. No tonality. Just saccharine, toothpaste-commercial masculinity. This is what it would look like if Justin Bieber became a movie star. Effort is enough.
Maybe that was overcritical. I love watching these movies. Even a movie like Cocktail that doesn’t seem particularly well made has great (probably unintentional) comedy, a surprisingly anti-capitalist message (the pursuit of money leads to more unhappiness than happiness), and Elisabeth Shue.
But I want more from you Tom. I want more.
Next: Rain Man
Every Tom Cruise Movie 