Review of Risky Business (1983) by Kirsty C — 30 Sep 2008

Remember Tom Cruise in his early days? When he was part man, part charm, and not crazy? Oh those were great times, and Risky Business is a testament to those times. A warm-hearted little teen movie about a kid whose life spirals out of control when he gets involved with.

.. a hooker, her pimp, and turning his parentless house into a brothel to turn some quick cash for the weekend and magically get his father's car fixed up in about 12 hours. So I'm not giving out any points for realism here, but what the movie lacks in its scripting it makes up for in its genuine good time.

..ieness, or something. It's funny actually, the movie is all over the place. At point we're living vivdly written and beautifully framed dream sequences that let us into the adolescent mind of Joel Goodson in a profound and humorous way, and then in the next we're watching him deal with the most comically unintimidating pimp I've ever seen portrayed on screen.

Those are the little things that never really let Risky Business jump over the "teen movie" hurdle. But it is great at being a teen movie. Tits, booze, weed, and rock and roll smack all over this movie, weighed down by the pressures of being a teenager in a middle class world that puts a lot of emotional pressure on teenagers.

Like most teen movies, the earnest and uncorrupted Joel Goodman soars through the film a step behind everyone else, until he finall learns to just loosen up! Oh what a warm hearted and wonderful message, but Cruise makes it work enough for us to enjoy it at least.

He's still young and ambitious, and really fits the bill as the naive teenager just trying to get a little freedom. I really don't understand how this film came to the extreme cult status it has, but I suppose there's not point in trying to understand it; it seems to be just so.

And if you don't think about it too hard, you'll really have a lot of fun with Risky Business.