Admirable film.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Cocktail is a decent movie- nothing special but a nice little diversion. If nothing else a reminder of the type of films the late 80s churned out. Tom Cruise, at the height of his superstardom plays a bartender who is coached by Bryan Brown in the big apple and then relocates to Jamaica. This is a good one time watch (preferably with a drink) and the locations and characters are innocent enough to be enamored with. If you have nothing to do on a lazy afternoon you can slip a disc of Cocktail in your player and get lost in not too heavy handed nostalgia.

I revisited this movie in 2018 because I seemed to remember it had some redeeming qualities. I was wrong. This movie is f---ing DUMB! It's like the stylized film adaptation of some Wall-Street-frat-boy's rushed first-draft script written on napkins at the bar of a TGI Friday's. It's the purest cinematic nightmare of the worst traits of the 80s projected through a cocaine lens. Just shockingly moronic. Cocktail would make a great double-feature with Less Than Zero if your goal was to experience nauseous shame about the 1980s.

This move is pure 80s cheese. It's a straight up melodrama with an unbelievable plot and overacting galore but it's glorious.This is a movie for those who adore the 80s and like Tom Cruise. Tom is really good in this and does his "I'm cooler than everyone" shtick like in Top Gun, Bryan Brown is also very good in this and the scenes with the two of them are probably the best in the movie. If this movie was made in 2018 it would just look like a 2 hour episode of The Bold and the Beautiful but a bit more raunchy. However because it is a time capsule to more interesting, care-free times it is a nice way to forget the troubles of the world whilst rejoicing at the sheer absurdity of this gem.

Cocktail (1988)Plot In A Paragraph: Brian Flanagan (Tom Crusie) an ambitious student learns the tricks of the trade and a few life lessons from Doug Coglan (Bryan Brown) a talented New York City bartender. After serious Cruise in The Colour Of Money, it was back to flashy/commercial Cruise in Cocktail. This movie appears on a lot of So Bad, It's Good lists, which I think is unfair. It's hardly Showgirls, and it perfectly captures the time and the excess of the late 80's. It's a bit more style over substance, but so what?? Like most 80's movies, it also has a great soundtrack too. A great, fun soundtrack can totally make a silly movie (and Cocktail is silly) better.Cruise may not be at his dramatic best, but he is it his charming, smiling best. I have to admit, I develop a crush on Elizabeth Shue, every single time I watch this movie. Brian Flanagan steals every scene he is in (Dman that man is charismatic in this movie) Gina Gershon is fine in her small role and Kelly Lynch looks superb in several bikinis. The reshot scenes stand out, mainly due to Cruise's hair (it's longer, how he has it in Rain Man) apparently these reshoots cut down Shue and Lynch screen time, whilst relegating Dougs plans and subsequent problems to almost a single scene. Although, probably not in my Top 10 Cruise movies, I usually watch this movie every year or so, and always enjoy it. Cocktail grossed $78 million at the domestic box office, to end the year the 9th highest grossing movie of 1988. For some reason I had it in my head this movie under performed, But it was Cruise's second highest grosser (behind Top Gun) and second best chart position (also behind Top Gun)