Interscope Communications
Silver Screen Partners III
Touchstone Pictures
Not part of a collection.
Cocktail
When he pours, he reigns.
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.
- Original title
- Cocktail
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- $20,000,000
- Revenue
- $171,504,781
Wuchak
Sep 10, 2023 · via TMDB
**_Fun 80’s 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 80’s flick that starts energetic, amusing and shallow but, thankfully, fleshes out the characters for something deeper. It’s 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 isn’t fully captured as it was in “The Karate Kid” and the later “Leaving Las Vegas” (the fools). Laurence Luckinbill shows up in the last act; he would go on to superbly play Sybok in “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” the next year. The ending is fine, but a bar is a bar, a place where people get soused. You can make a good living from it, sure, but does that benefit or deter humanity in the grand scheme of things? The film runs 1 hour, 43 minutes, and was shot in Toronto and Ocho Rios, Jamaica. GRADE: B
CinemaSerf
Jun 9, 2022 · via TMDB
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 probably not!). The bulk of the film, though, is really weak and feeble. He falls in love, cheats, falls out of love, drops the bottle, does he or doesn't he get the girl (Elisabeth Shue)? Then the film is tinged with a little bit of tragedy just in case the fluffiness of it all was making us light-headed. The ending is sort of imposed upon us, and after 100 minutes it took it's time to deliver the obvious. If you don't drink, you'll almost certainly hate it. If you do drink, then you will probably still not rate it much, but at least you will learn how to put fruit juice in a martini!
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Tom Cruise
Brian Flanagan
Bryan Brown
Douglas "Doug" Coughlin
Elisabeth Shue
Jordan Mooney
Lisa Banes
Bonnie
Kelly Lynch
Kerry Coughlin
Gina Gershon
Coral
Ron Dean
Uncle Pat
Ellen Foley
Eleanor
Chris Owens
Soldier
Louis Ferreira
Soldier
James Eckhouse
Tourist
Laurence Luckinbill
Richard Mooney
Paul Benedict
Finance Teacher
Robert Donley
Eddie
Harvey J. Alperin
Job Interviewer
Allan Wasserman
Job Interviewer
Richard Livingston
Job Interviewer
Jean St. James
Job Interviewer
Lew Saunders
Job Interviewer
Jack Newman
Economics Teacher
Arlene Mazerolle
Second Waitress
Kelly Connell
Yuppie Poet
Gerry Bamman
Tourist
Reathel Bean
Tourist
Peter Boyden
Tourist
Kenneth McGregor
Robert Powell the Sculptor
Liisa Repo-Martell
Young Couple in Deli
David L. Crowley
Doorman
James Mainprize
Butler
Jaap Broeker
Doorman (uncredited)
Garry Pastore
Well Dressed Man (uncredited)
Andrew Shue
Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Penelope Gottlieb
Title Designer
Dean Semler
Director of Photography
Ellen Mirojnick
Costume Design
Branko Racki
Stunt Coordinator
Roger Donaldson
Director
Rob Cowan
First Assistant Director
Donna Isaacson
Casting
Ted Field
Producer
Robbie Nevil
Musician
J. Peter Robinson
Original Music Composer
Richard L. Anderson
Supervising Sound Editor
Heywood Gould
Screenplay
Dog Run
The Affair of Susan
Who Are You Really?
NYC Rivals
The Godfather Part II
GoodFellas
Once Upon a Time in America
Ikiru
Léon: The Professional
The Apartment
Buddies
The Usual Suspects
Taxi Driver
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Present Perfect
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
La Dolce Vita
National Theatre Live: Follies
The Black Bag
The Scottish Play
Throne of Blood
Dog Day Afternoon
Fail Safe
Rosemary's Baby
Proof of the Man
The King of Comedy
Do the Right Thing
Alice in the Cities
Manhattan
Annie Hall
The Leopard
The Devil and Miss Jones
The Hustler
Boogie Nights
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Sweet Smell of Success
American Gangster
The Sicilian Clan
Synecdoche, New York
Night on Earth
Ghostbusters
Kal Ho Naa Ho
Hannah and Her Sisters
Carol
Eyes Wide Shut
The Devil Wears Prada
The Godfather Part III
Inside Man
When Harry Met Sally...
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
Scarface
August Rush
Berlin am Meer
An Affair to Remember
Pocketful of Miracles
Sophie's Choice
Men in Black
Maria Full of Grace
Fresh
Rockers
Bachelor Mother
Stranger Than Paradise
Pi
The Goldfinch
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Cool Runnings
Transamerica
Metropolitan
Love Affair
Craig's Wife
True Dreams
The Docks of New York
Coffee and Cigarettes
The Wanderers
King Kong
The Horse Whisperer
The Believer
While the City Sleeps
The Marriage Fool
Lookin' Italian
Enchanted
Cop Land
Payback
Frankie and Johnny
Love with the Proper Stranger
O Lucky Man!
Panic Room
Michael Clayton
Klute
Margarita with a Straw
An American Tail
Sleepless in Seattle
Newsies
Hallam Foe
Chop Shop
All Through the Night
Fiction.
Second to None
We Own the Night
Breach
Working Girl
Basquiat
From the Terrace
The Brave One
Sex and the City
Carnal Knowledge
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Secret Beyond the Door
A Slight Case of Murder
Fame
My Blueberry Nights
Shaft
Black Widow
Men in Black II
Daddio
My Salinger Year
Sleeping with Other People
Not Okay
How to Be Single
Killing Zoe
The Devil's Own
Bye Bye Monkey
Plaza Suite
Addicted to Love
February
The Jazz Singer
Raising Helen
Lupin the Third: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
5 Flights Up
Stonewall
Best Seller
Mr. Deeds
Mahogany
Broadway Damage
Made
Secret Things
The Rage of Paris
Only When I Laugh
Andy Hardy Meets Debutante
Sliver
Love Nest
Adult Beginners
Funny Lady
Ratter
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Mistletoe Time Machine
Wide Sargasso Sea
Off Beat
Swindle
Smile Orange
Hercules in New York
One Summer Night
Alabang Girls
Great Gain
Altin in the city
Fists of Love
Knitwits
Bounce
Melbhattan
The Bracket Theory
Theophany
Lovers
Paper Tiger
Paraagan
Second Egyptian
King of Games
Jasper Jelqs
Ian Lara: Material Boy
Untitled
After Hours
An Affair to Remember
Anora
Sitting in Bars with Cake
Two Lovers
Frankie and Johnny
Sweet and Lowdown
My Sassy Girl
On the Edge
White Palace
G
Sex and the City
Party Girl
Still Breathing
The Wackness
Someone Great
The Immigrant
Standing Up, Falling Down
Dirty Sexy Saint
The Matador
Shortbus
How to Be Single
Night Owls
Intimacy
You Kill Me
Choose Me
Top Five
Blind
Sex and the City 2
London
Valley of the Dolls
The Flamingo Kid
Class
54
Jul 29, 1988
