Plot
A talented New York bartender takes a job at a bar in Jamaica and falls in love.

Release Year: 1988

Rating: 5.4/10 (31,940 voted)

Critic's Score: 12/100

Director: Roger Donaldson

Stars: Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown, Elisabeth Shue

Storyline
After leaving the Army, Brian Flanagan tries to get a marketing job in New York. But without a college degree, this was not possible. He then decides to start studying for a business degree at the local City College and gets a part time job as a bartender. He realizes that its not that easy, but when his new boss Douglas Coughlin teaches him the secrets of the bar trade and they become the most famous bartenders in town. Both Brian and Doug Coughlin want their own top class cocktail bars someday and Brian's Cocktail Bar is to be called 'Cocktails & Dreams', and in order to get the necessary money to open it, Brian travels to Jamaica to work as a bartender at a resort Tiki Bar, and the pay is good. There he meets Jordan Mooney, a young and pretty, up and coming American artist on vacation with her girlfriend from New York, staying at the Island resort. Jordan and Brian spend some quality time together and fall in love...

Cast:
Tom Cruise - Brian Flanagan
Bryan Brown - Doug Coughlin
Elisabeth Shue - Jordan Mooney
Lisa Banes - Bonnie
Laurence Luckinbill - Mr. Mooney
Kelly Lynch - Kerry Coughlin
Gina Gershon - Coral
Ron Dean - Uncle Pat
Robert Donley - Eddie
Ellen Foley - Eleanor
Andrea Morse - Dulcy
Chris Owens - Soldier
Louis Ferreira - Soldier (as Justin Louis)
John Graham - Soldier
Richard Thorn - Soldier

Taglines: They thought he was good, they were wrong... he was the best

Release Date: 29 July 1988

Filming Locations: Dunn's River Falls, Ocho Rios, St. Ann, Jamaica

Gross: $78,222,753 (USA)

Runtime: 104 min

Trivia:
This film is listed among The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.

Goofs:
Continuity: When Brian pours Jordan a beer in the Jamaican bar, he is also making a drink for another customer. You then see Jordan take her first drink, and yet there is only about an inch high of beer in her glass.

Quotes:
[first lines]
Brian: Come on, put it to the floor! Come on! Let's go!

Theoretically, Flawless in its Design

Rating: 10/10

Cocktail is a lot of things. It's a classic love story about finding the right "rich chick". It's a sorted tale about an aging down on his luck bartender who finds a reason to live. And it's also a feel good film. It teaches you how to respect the desire. Be careful around Elisabeth Shue. "And pretty soon, days get shorter and shorter, nights longer and longer, before you know it, life is just one long night with a few comatose daylight hours." And in the end, no matter how shitty you are to people, they will always forgive you. Bryan Browns masterpiece and Cruise is electric. It's another one of those movies you could watch over and over. And in a little while, your want to watch it again. If anyone hasn't seen this movie and doesn't plan on it, than they are just retarded. Do yourself a favor, run down to the store and buy it. You'll thank me.

Comments: