Cocktail

Directed by Roger Donaldson, Cocktail follows Tom Cruise’s ambitious Brian Flanagan as he reluctantly begins working as a bartender to make ends meet – with the movie subsequently detailing the character’s exploits at work and ongoing personal problems and complications. Filmmaker Donaldson, working from Heywood Gould’s screenplay, does an effective job of initially luring the viewer into the somewhat plotless proceedings, as Cocktail kicks off with an entertainingly lighthearted opening stretch revolving around Brian’s initial entry into the world of bartending – with the affable atmosphere undoubtedly perpetuated and heightened by a typically charming and ingratiating performance by star Cruise. (And it doesn’t hurt, certainly, that the movie’s supporting cast boasts such appealing players as Bryan Brown and Elisabeth Shue.) The movie’s watchable vibe, which persists throughout, admittedly, does take a hit from an increasingly meandering narrative that’s a bit all over the place, as the picture’s midsection vacillates wildly between a multitude of different storylines and even genres (eg there’s an emphasis on, among other things, Brian’s melodramatic relationship with Shue’s Jordan and his love/hate bond with Brown’s Doug). It is, as a result, not surprising to discover that Cocktail‘s second half suffers from a rather frustrating lack of forward momentum, while the movie’s almost unreasonably upbeat finale is hardly able to pack the good-natured punch Donaldson has surely intended – which ultimately cements the film’s place as a decent-enough drama that would surely fare much, much worse without Cruise in the central role.

**1/2 out of ****