"Cocktail" (1988)

Rating: R

Genre: Drama, Romance

Directed By: Roger Donaldson

Written By: Heywood Gould

On Disc/Streaming: Aug 13, 2002

Runtime: 103 minutes

Studio: Touchstone Pictures

Summary: 

Post Top Gun, a young Tom Cruise plays Young Mr Flanagan in this entertaining 80s romantic-comedy about a guy who becomes an expert in the bar and cocktail-making industry, moving up and up towards success. This is not without its trials and tribulations of course. Love doesn’t come easy, and friendship doesn’t always run smoothly. Yes, the road to becoming a successful bar man proves surprisingly difficult but hugely entertaining.

Review: 

I’m going to be honest with you here. There’s not a lot to this movie. There really isn’t. But it’s got a good-looking Tom Cruise taking you through each scene with some impressive bar serving tricks, plenty of catchy music, a cool title, and a nice love story to boot. Sure, what more does a girl want from a movie? There’s no doubt about it but Tom Cruise was a cool dude in the day. 

There is a particular scene when both Brian Flanagan and Douglas Coglan (played by Bryan Brown) are simultaneously tossing the ingredients as they make a cocktail for the customers to the song The Hippy Hippy Shake. Impressed by their talented performance they are offered a job working in a massive and much higher-end nightclub. It’s quite something to watch to be fair. A very well-choreographed scene pulled off well by both actors.

The main focus of the film, aside from all the cocktail making and time spent in the bars with adoring customers, is the friendship between Brian Flanagan and Douglas Coglan (his boss, then ex partner). Both equally full of themselves they clash many times but always come out shaking hands. However, there always comes a time when they each must admit maybe neither of them knows better. Choices in life take them in different directions where both find love respectively but not both for keeps.

Another storyline is the love story between Brian and Jordan (played by Elizabeth Shue). They're very cute together. I like Jordan as a character. She was level-headed and very smart. There's one scene later on following an argument with Bryan when he shows up at her work but she ends up pouring spagetti on top of him. To be fair at that point I was cheering on for doing it! Great moment. 

As I say, there isn’t a lot to this movie, you just gotta sit back and enjoy. Coglan’s Law: watch the movie to judge for yourself. 

Final Rating: 1/5 Stars

Trailer: