Have you ever stood at the bar waiting for your cocktail to be made and imagined that your server wasn’t some random worker? It’s Tom Cruise with a big ’80s haircut, making pouring a drink the most inexplicably entertaining thing you’ve ever seen. Tom throws bottles around and catches them like nobody’s business, with his quippy Australian mentor by his side and an entire bar falling in love with him. Tom Cruise’s 1988 Cocktail delivers all the campy pulp of this exact scenario, with so much charisma and wonderfully mellow-dramatic love that it tricks you into thinking it’s the best movie you’ve ever seen.
Cocktail easily slips under the radar when compared to the high-stake thrills of his later work, but Cruise is at his most carefree and fun here. Its over-the-top story makes it so watchable all these years later, a fascinating time capsule of ’80s excess when all it took was a longing look and enough romantic persistence to win your girl back and live happily ever after. Why should you watch Cocktail? What makes it so fun? Why is it a guilty pleasure? Here’s what you need to know.
Why You Should Watch Cocktail Despite its 9% Rotten Tomatoes Score
Cocktail is a movie so bad that it’s good. The movie is included in John Wilson’s list of “The 100 Most Enjoyable Bad Movies Ever Made” in his book “The Official Razzie Movie Guide”. This is a perfect way to describe Cocktail. It isn’t perfect by any means. But the magnetism of Tom Cruise, the fun of the premise, and the chance to watch one of our most iconic movie stars enjoying the sunny beaches of Jamaica without facing obstacles that a bit of charm can’t fix. Cocktail’s low 9% critic score is not representative of its infectious appeal.
Cruise may be a big part of selling the heightened world of Cocktail, but he isn’t the only part. His wise mentor’s self-aware attitude and unconventional relationship with Cruise give Cocktail its beating heart. Actor Bryan Brown is the Obi-Wan to Cruise’s Luke Skywalker, but Brown is more interested in teaching his apprentice how to win over a crowd and not take on the empire. Their slyly competitive natures convey a friendship as colorful as the drinks they serve and as bitter.
Cocktails’ banter provides a key element to a distinctly ’80s attitude, from its outward definitions of success to its portrayal of New York with a life of its own. Without Brown, Cruise would be left to carry the corniness of Cocktail on his own, but his co-star’s Australian sarcasm helps keep the drinks flowing and the campiness. Two elements of Cocktail’s success are a movie that recognizes its character’s vanity and has a great time leaning into it as much as possible.
Cocktail Is a Camp Love Story
This excess is found in Cocktail’s central love story, and it’s as unmistakably dated in its gender roles as Cruise is in his bottle flipping. But therein lies the charm of it, not providing a modern benchmark for a woman’s voice in a relationship, but the period’s ability to wrap everything up with a song and still have its audience cheering. Cocktail’s pairing of Cruise and Elisabeth Shue turns a slightly toxic love story of male bravado into exactly that, but it somehow works. In Cocktail’s world of extravagance and late nights, a romance like theirs thrives in its messiness.
The love story isn’t entirely flawed; instead, it relies on palpable chemistry that’s delightful to watch as they flaunt around Jamaica, which is generally young and fun. Cocktail’s internal logic might be flawed by today’s standards, but you must suspend disbelief in the same way as you should accept that Cruise’s character is naturally good at making cocktails. It’s Cruise’s world, and in Cocktail’s signature blend of rich flavors, an otherwise dated story of success and love is made into a cult classic with a knowingly sickly aftertaste that’s all the more enjoyable for being hard to swallow.
Cocktail Is an Outlier in Tom Cruise’s Filmography
Tom Cruise may be more known for his adventures as Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible franchise, but his best work came before the 2000s when the most dangerous stunt he had to pull off was not cutting his hand on a broken bottle. Cocktail is a campy drama full to the brim of big personalities and even bigger haircuts. If you push past the hair and the ’80s outfits, you probably won’t find much nuance below the surface, but much like the drinks Cruise makes, it tastes so good that you won’t think twice.
Cocktail is a great excuse to travel back in time with Cruise to a time and place recognizable in some ways, and unique in its carefree attitude and problematic relationship dynamics. The movie may rely on a few tricks to convince its audience to stay at the bar for a little longer than they had originally planned. It’s bumbling at times and a tad awkward to rewatch in 2024, but when looking at Tom Cruise’s list of movies, there isn’t anything like it. Cocktail is a signature mixture for better and for worse, but it goes down so sweetly you won’t hesitate to order another. Look at Tom Cruise rhyming on top of that club bar. OK, I’ll stay for one more drink. Cocktail is available to rent on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Google Play.