Review of Risky Business (1983) by Moe J — 03 Aug 2012

"Risky Business" not only serves to be a highly-entertaining picture, but one that is of great importance in the history of film. This movie signified Tom Cruise' role in Hollywood, ranging from his over-enthusiastic personality, to his against the rules attitude. It was this film that got him noticed in the industry at the age of 19 years old. While putting its historical importance aside, this movie is simply entertaining throughout its entire duration. It's fun, witty, and smart.

Basically Tom Cruise plays a kid who's parents leave for the weekend or whatever, and he wants to do something ridiculous. His father is disappointed in his academic abilities and believe he won't be going anywhere in life. Cruise responds to this by going against all of his parent's wishes, and living on the wild side, eventually leading to him running a pimped out whore house in his own home. This film is a pioneer of its genre, so when you see most movies that try to embody this movie's premise, you'll know where its coming from. When things start to go south, he has to try to set everything straight before his parent's get home. Classic.

Tom Cruise is pretty much Tom Cruise in this picture. Being as he was relatively new to the movies, he probably provided a very interesting performance in 1983. When you look at his acting nowadays, you'll immediately recognize it as his early work. Tom Cruise since then has grown as an actor, as he has grown in his maturity. This was the time where he acted childish, but that was his character. He did a good job in this movie. The rest of the cast is pretty good as well but they only serve as a shadow for the main actor. If you look back and reflect on this movie you won't really remember anyone else but Cruise.

Before viewing the film I expected a colorized perky movie, but what I got was completely different. To put it in simple terms, this movie was dark and steamy. Not dark in its content, but in its presentation. It had this bad to the bone attitude to it that I really didn't expect at all. This fueled my interest in the film and kept me entertained throughout. "Risky Business" is the epitome of its particular sub-genre of film. It represents all of the disenfranchised youth of the 80s, and can still be considered relevant to this day. Overall, its simply fun to watch. It has a classic 80s style to it, and you'll find yourself hooked within the first half-hour.