It is easy to be nostalgic for the fun elements that were typical of the 80s, with the decade’s iconic music, its retro entertainment – DND is seeing a resurgence – and its oft-emulated fashion, with Netflix sensation Stranger Things bringing many of these cultural elements back into the mainstream consciousness. However, one movie from the period seems to delight in showcasing the worst of the worst of ’80s values. With its overt romanticism of consumerism, unabashed sexist jokes, and general obsession with money, Cocktail (1988) starring Tom Cruise adds up to a lesson in what not to do to endear your characters to your audience. This may reasonably sound like unbearable viewing, however, there is an ironic enjoyment to be had in recognizing the gulf between the movie’s naive intention and its hugely unfortunate outcome. If ever there’s a movie that lacks self-awareness to an unintentionally funny degree, Cocktail has to be it.
What Happens in ‘Cocktail’?
Cocktail follows Cruise’s character of Brian Flanagan, as he doggedly tries to attain success in the big city following his time in the army. After being repeatedly rejected from his attempts to obtain a high-powered job on Wall Street, due largely to his lack of a university degree, he compromises by enrolling in a course, whilst supporting himself by bartending. During this time, he receives constant tips and guidance from his boss Doug (Bryan Brown), whose skills in “flair bartending,” in which bartenders perform stylish tricks with bar tools, impresses and inspires Brian. After Doug, who is typically insensitive, takes his antics too far, their friendship takes a hit and Brian decides to go to Jamaica with the view to open his own bar. Whilst there, he falls in love with the unpretentiously sweet Jordan (Elisabeth Shue), which sets events into motion that ultimately highlight his deep selfishness — even though the movie still attempts to portray him as a likably flawed hero.
Tom Cruise Is Actually the Bad Guy — But He Doesn’t Know It
Perhaps the writers of Cocktail would have been wise to let Tom Cruise lean into his character’s inner villain, seeing as he embodies particularly unhinged roles so brilliantly. Up until the point that Brian breaks Jordan’s heart in Cocktail, he has already displayed numerous signs of having the wrong priorities. In the opening scene of the film, he and his army buddies rowdily misuse an emergency flashing light so that he can catch a Greyhound bus into New York, and his actions only go downhill from there. With his sole intention being to “make a million,” he doesn’t care about building relationships or making the world a better place; money is his only goal. Furthermore, he continuously entertains Doug’s abysmal jokes and advice, which range from the dishonest practice of ripping off the customer, to joking about giving the bar’s waitresses “crabs.” Brian seems to find this behavior admirable, joining in with his own awful jokes about women, and only temporarily withdrawing his loyalty to Doug when betrayed by him.
Therefore, when Brian spends a romantic period of time with Jordan in Jamaica, it comes as no surprise that he discards her at the first opportunity. After Doug’s unexpected appearance at Brian’s new locale, he challenges Brian to seduce a wealthy older woman. Brian does not hesitate at the chance, breaking Jordan’s heart in the process. Despite his regret at this, he still chooses to follow his new girlfriend back to New York in the hopes of gaining a job via her high professional status. Overall, the assumption that the viewer will find sympathy with Tom Cruise’s character is highly laughable. There is something curiously amusing about a character bulldozing their way through people’s feelings, in a movie that tries to convince the audience that they are worth rooting for.
‘Cocktail’ Gives Us a Laughably Dull Romance
Not only did the makers of Cocktail woefully fail to understand its main character, but they also misunderstood the true nature of the movie’s frightfully boring love story. The montages of Tom Cruise and Elisabeth Shue’s holiday romance don’t offer anything crucial or compelling, and as a result, form the slowest parts of the film. Maybe they should have made Tom Cruise partake in some high-stakes running to ramp up the excitement, rather than the light jog he is disappointingly usually seen to be doing. Either way, despite Cruise and Shue’s best efforts, everything from the dialogue to the chemistry is one-note and ends up falling flat.
Not only are the early parts of their relationship totally uninspiring, but their dynamic also becomes strangely centered around money, to a ridiculous degree. In fact, when Brian fights to win Jordan back at the end of the movie (involving an unnecessarily scrappy scuffle with the door attendant), he is still clearly fixated on the topic of money, imparting his future business intentions during his big romantic speech. Nothing says “I love you” quite like “I’ve worked out a loan with my uncle.” Even at the end of the movie, when making a speech at his bar’s grand opening, with a heavily pregnant Jordan in the audience, he recites a spoken word poem dedicated to his unborn child, and can’t seem to help but detail the ways in which a son could help run the business (not a daughter though!). There’s a reason that “windfall” and “franchised” aren’t terms commonly used in poetry.
‘Cocktail’ Is Brimming With Terrible Morals And Worse Poetry
In a last-minute attempt to enable Brian to grow, and to impart the film’s wider message, Cocktail also crudely squeezes in a suicide storyline. Brian’s friend Doug tragically dies, which is only explored in relation to what it teaches Brian, via Doug’s final letter. Overall, the time between when Brian first meets Jordan and his supposed contrition at the end of the film is extremely short, and as such, does not realistically give him enough time to learn from his or Doug’s regrets. The film attempts to deliver a message about ethical business practice and unconditional love, but Brian’s change of heart is so fast, and his business plans are still so heavily featured, that this ultimately doesn’t ring true. Thus, the undeserved self-congratulatory tone of the movie forms its main horribleness, and as Brian gleefully concludes at the close of the movie that the drinks are on the house, in a show of good business ethics, the effect is laughably unaware.
Finally, it also goes without saying that Tom Cruise should never indulge in spoken word poetry again, due to the fact that his first of two unutterably gnarly poetry performances in the film solely consisted of listing off cocktail names that rhymed. Yikes. Among the movie’s series of unbelievable choices, the spoken word element has to be awarded the most deliciously bad.
