Tom Cruise, Elisabeth Shue, Bryan Brown

Oh, that ’88. when T.Cruise and E.Shue were kissing passionately at the beginning of their careers (only on screen, though). This is their first and last joint title…

Trusting the ‘expert’ critics and their assessments, we could easily conclude that it was a complete failure from the film. But incidentally, we have our own brains and tastes, to see for ourselves…

This title is a cult art from the late ’80s, and as such it should be respected. Maybe it’s not at the level of Cruise’s ‘Top Gun’ from two years ago, or ‘Rain Man’ from the same year… Maybe he’s less popular than the Karate Kid where we could see an even younger E.Shue…

But what it is – a real ‘cocktail’ of youthful love, a desire for success, discovering life’s values, betrayal, forgiveness…

Looking simplified : a young man on his return from the army aims for more serious employment, but without a college degree, no one wants to hire him. What’s left for him is the tavern… Luckily, he finds the place where the bartender’s vacancy is available, and completely unplanned he start a lavish lifestyle, full of ups and downs.

Looking it today, as a 30-year-old, we can only enjoy the simplicity of the action, by no means attributing it to him as a flaw (as many do). We can enjoy 100 minutes of stunts with bottles, shakers, glasses… Enjoy a great soundtrack (‘Kokomo’ and ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ were shot targeted for this film).