Cocktail
Directed by Roger Donaldson
- romance
- drama
- comedy
The story
After being discharged from the Army, Brian Flanagan moves back to Queens and takes a job in a bar run by Doug Coughlin, who teaches Brian the fine art of bar-tending. Brian quickly becomes a patron favorite with his flashy drink-mixing style, and Brian adopts his mentor's cynical philosophy on life and goes for the money.
What it’s like
Bright, glossy 1980s studio polish: saturated neon and warm tungsten bar light, slick tracking shots of bottles flipping and glasses flashing in slow motion, and a sheen of hot-pink and teal that turns Manhattan nightlife and a sun-drenched Jamaican beach into the same kind of aspirational postcard. The score is synth-pop and rock-driven, upbeat and insistent, with the clink of ice and shaker rhythm built into the cutting. Its vibe is breezy, flashy, and faintly hollow, a feel-good night-out movie with a glitzy surface. It moves briskly through montage and set pieces, with comedy and romance on top of a sharp ambition arc about a charming young man chasing money and then reckoning with what it costs. Intensity is low: some brawling and a few tense moments, with no gore and little real danger, and the romance is warm rather than explicit. It suits a fun, slightly nostalgic weekend watch, or a comfort rewatch while doing something else, for people who like stylish 80s escapism with a light moral undertow.
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