Cocktail

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2:21

Cocktail

R

1988

1h 44m

Romance

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

11%

Tomatometer

46 Reviews

58%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise) wants a high-paying marketing job, but needs a business degree first. Working as a bartender to pay for college, Flanagan is mentored by his veteran boss, Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown). Together, their showy tricks and charisma command large crowds and tip payments -- until Flanagan and the cynical Coughlin have a falling out. Flanagan moves to Jamaica to raise enough money to open his own bar, where he falls in love with artist Jordan Mooney (Elisabeth Shue).

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Critics Consensus

There are no surprises in Cocktail, a shallow, dramatically inert romance that squanders Tom Cruise's talents in what amounts to a naive barkeep's banal fantasy.

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Peter Travers

People Magazine

02/26/2019

As if realizing that his star hasn't smiled for 15 minutes, Donaldson tacks on a goody-goody ending that would shame the Care Bears. How to sum up what went wrong? Cruise has a line in the movie: "Flat beer from rusty pipes."

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Richard Corliss

TIME Magazine

05/21/2013

Cocktail is a bottle of rotgut in a Dom Perignon box.

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Sheila Benson

Los Angeles Times

05/21/2013

The pairing of old-hand Brown and young-hand Cruise may have been meant to remind us of Cruise and Paul Newman; if so, think of this as The Color of Counterfeit Money.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

Mar 19

3/5

...the unquestioning attitude of the film to the central character's arrested development in terms of women is less than impressive…

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Nov 4

1.5/4

A Razzie Award winner for Worst Picture (over Burt Reynolds' non-nominated Rent-a-Cop? Please.) and Worst Screenplay (more deserving).

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

06/22/2022

Cruise was never been a bad actor, but this film about a flaming sex symbol has elevated him to definitive stardom. [Full review in Spanish]

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shane O

@Shanes_DVD_Shack 4d

Impossible to like characters and insanely stupid plot and script , bad acting and an ending that make little to no sense . Save yourself the time don’t watch this movie

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Tim M

@tgmacman Aug 7

Going down like a glass full of nails, Cocktail has a screenplay rife with unlikable characters and melodramatic whiplash.

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Percy D

@RT05941032 Aug 3

Predictable & didn't hold my attention. I expected more from both Tom cruise & Bryan. They must be disappointed as well. It had hype, good cinematography & great cast. But fell way short. Shue is a good actress but give her something to work with. This was trite!

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Zechariah C

@RT72984548 Aug 3

A movie that was a joy to watch. I've seen bad and boring movies. This was not either. I'm happy I saw it. I had a great time and loved how the story unfolded.

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D L

@ddddddddd Aug 3

One of the most dated and bad films to continually be shown on TV.

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Ariel L

@Alegeriadelosimple Jun 8

80s, hustle, tom cruise and New York… That's what I came to Maybe it's not the spectacular story, but damn how sexy Tom looks here.

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Roger Donaldson

Director

Tom Cruise

Brian Flanagan

Bryan Brown

Douglas 'Doug' Coughlin

Elisabeth Shue

Jordan Mooney

Lisa Banes

Bonnie

Laurence Luckinbill

Mr. Mooney

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Cocktail: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise) wants a high-paying marketing job, but needs a business degree first. Working as a bartender to pay for college, Flanagan is mentored by his veteran boss, Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown). Together, their showy tricks and charisma command large crowds and tip payments -- until Flanagan and the cynical Coughlin have a falling out. Flanagan moves to Jamaica to raise enough money to open his own bar, where he falls in love with artist Jordan Mooney (Elisabeth Shue).

Director: Roger Donaldson
Producer: Robert W. Cort, Ted Field
Screenwriter: Heywood Gould
Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
Production Co: Touchstone Pictures, Interscope Communications
Rating: R
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 29, 1988, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $77.3M
Runtime: 1h 44m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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