Risky Business

Risky Business (1983)
Director: Paul Brickman
Cast: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Joe Pantoliano, Curtis Armstrong, Bronson Pinchot
Memorable line(s): "My name is Joel Goodson. I deal in human fulfillment. I grossed over eight thousand dollars in one night. Time of your life, huh kid?"

"Risky Business," in lesser hands, could have been a run of the mill teen sex comedy, but Writer/Director Paul Brickman had delivered a movie that is stylish and one that has substance beneath it's sexy and funny exterior. In some ways, it could be called a teen-age updating of "The Graduate," but that might be stretching it some. Still, there's more than meets the eye to this movie.

Joel (Cruise) is a teenager on his own for a week while his folks are out of town. Cajoled by friends to call an escort service, Joel has a quick misfire, but then hits the jackpot with Lana (De Mornay). The sparks fly when they get together and while Joel does get one reward, his troubles are just beginning as Lana turns the tables on the hapless Joel. It starts with an expensive bauble coming up missing and ends when Joel's father's Porsche in a lake. And it's downhill from there until Joel does a little growing up and taps into an entrepreneurial spirit of his own.

Cruise is great as the awkward and nervous teen who gets in above his head. But you also get to see his evolution and by the end of the movie you completely buy that the experience gained during the movie gives him the metal to find a solution to his deep, deep trouble. De Mornay sizzles as the hooker who is both cunning (in the worst sense of the word) and caring as she nudges Joel towards a solution. Pantoliano is quite convincing as the menacing but sly pimp.

While the cast is excellent, its Marshall's direction and script that make the movie. There's a sophistication to how the film is handled that elevates the subject past what it could have been. The visuals are stunning, yet subdued and the editing something to notice. The Tangerine score mixed with some pop tunes also are well integrated into the music for maximum effect.

If you're looking for a fun and sexy blast from the past, then "Risky Business" may be the movie for you.