Let’s get something out of the way — this movie contains “Kokomo” by The Beach Boys, arguably one of the worst songs of all time. The movie producers who commissioned it and the songwriters responsible for it deserve to burn for this earworm. But if you can see past that, 1988’s Cocktail is a really fun film, because believe it or not, there was a time when Tom Cruise was not a giant movie star. Sure, sure, he’d been in Top Gun, but in Cocktail, you could see the pure charisma that would make him one of the biggest box-office draws in the world, but on display in a relatively small film. Aussie Bryan Brown is here in one of his best roles, serving as a kind of Obi Wan of booze-slingers (that is, if the Jedi were con men who used the Force to get into rich women’s pants), and Elizabeth Shue stars as the rich-girl love interest who falls for the poor, ambitious bartender. You won’t have to think very much, but you will enjoy this vintage piece of ’80s fluff. STEVE CAVENDISH
Midnight Movies: Cocktail
