Movie · 1988 · Romance, Drama, Comedy · 1h 44m · R · English
Curator score: 0.7/10 (177.9K ratings)
When he pours, he reigns.
Overview
After being discharged from the Army, Brian Flanagan moves back to Queens and takes a job in a bar run by Doug Coughlin, who teaches Brian the fine art of bar-tending. Brian quickly becomes a patron favorite with his flashy drink-mixing style, and Brian adopts his mentor's cynical philosophy on life and goes for the money.
Ratings
Curator score: 0.7/10
IMDb: 5.9/10
Letterboxd: 2.85/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 11%
Metacritic: 12
TMDB: 6.1/10
Director
Roger Donaldson
Production
Interscope Communications, Touchstone Pictures, Silver Screen Partners III
Cast
Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown, Elisabeth Shue, Lisa Banes, Kelly Lynch, Gina Gershon, Ron Dean, Ellen Foley, Chris Owens, Louis Ferreira, James Eckhouse, Laurence Luckinbill, Paul Benedict, Robert Donley, Andrea Doven, John Graham, Richard Thorn, Robert Greenberg, Harvey J. Alperin, Sandra Will
Curator Review
Verdict
A glossy, uneven 80s star vehicle with a lot more style than substance. It’s worth watching if you want peak Tom Cruise charisma, flashy bartending spectacle, and a time-capsule look at Reagan-era ambition, but the melodrama and tonal whiplash are part of the package.
Best for
Tom Cruise fans
80s studio-movie nostalgia
viewers who enjoy campy melodrama
people interested in work-and-ambition stories
fans of glossy romance with a cynical edge
Skip if
you want a coherent character drama
you’re allergic to dated gender politics
you prefer subtle romance
you need a movie that fully earns its emotional turns
Overview
Cocktail is one of those movies that feels both instantly legible and strangely unhinged. On the surface it’s a slick rise-and-fall story about a young man learning the bar business, but the movie is really about image: performance, seduction, ambition, and the way 1980s success culture turns personality into a hustle. The result is messy, but never dull.
Worth noting
Tom Cruise is the reason to see it. He’s absurdly watchable, and the film knows it, building entire scenes around his confidence, vanity, and physical ease. The bartending sequences have a showman’s energy, and the movie’s glossy nightlife aesthetic gives it a strong period flavor even when the script is wobbling.
Bottom line
What keeps it from being a clean recommendation is the tonal chaos. It wants to be a romance, a cautionary tale, and a swaggering hangout movie all at once, and those pieces don’t always fit. Still, as a snapshot of late-80s studio excess and a showcase for a movie star in full command of the frame, it has a weird, durable appeal.
Top Letterboxd reviews
isaac (2.5★) · 1404 likes
tired: cocktail (1988) is a bad 80s movie about a bartending
wired: cocktail (1988) is a bad movie that unintentionally provides insight into capitalism in the reagan era and heteronormativity in the 80s
inspired: cocktail (1988) is a gay tragedy about two men, one who's lead down a path of self-hatred due to his inability to correctly conform to what capitalist patriarchy expects of him, and the other who learns to assimilate into it because of the outcome of his former lover's inner demons
sawah 🦖 (3★) · 1161 likes
cocktails and dreams is the worst name for a bar I’ve ever heard I’m sorry
Patrick Willems (2★) · 886 likes
This sure does take a turn when Tom Cruise moves to Jamaica
megs (2.5★) · 774 likes
i can’t lie, Tom Cruise making cocktails is a very attractive thing to watch
amaya (1★) · 768 likes
me in the kitchen when i was 13 after mixing half a bottle of cough syrup and apple juice
2013 · Crime, Drama, Comedy · 3h · R · Curator 7.9/10 (5.7M ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, AMC+, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
For the manic energy, seductive excess, and critique of success-as-performance.