Risky Business (1983)

"Sometimes you just gotta say 'What the f*ck', make your move."  That is the advice repeated in many forms to many people by many people throughout the course of the 1983 film Risky Business.  The film, directed by Paul Brickman and starring Tom Cruise, concerns the fortunes of Joel Goodson, a teenage Reaganite living in a wealthy suburb of Chicago.  Functioning equally well on three levels: the film is a capable teen sex romp, romantic comedy-drama, and brutal satire of the money-culture of the eighties.

The film begins with Joel reciting a (steamy) dream he had the night before about a beautiful girl...and his fears of inadequacy.  It is revealed that Joel's parents are going out of town for the week and leaving him to take care of the house, impress the interviewer from Princeton, and to drive the station wagon rather than the Porsche.  His friend Miles gives him the advice stated above and he embarks on a path that sets him on a collision course with the future, love, and Guido the killer pimp.  Alone, he takes Miles' advice and has some fun: he plays cards, he goes driving (hint: he does not take the station wagon), he dances to "Old Time Rock N' Roll", and he calls a call-girl.  The call-girl, Lana is described as what "every white boy off the lake wants," and Joel, presumably off the lake, wants her.  In the morning, he cannot afford her price without going to the bank, he leaves to only return to a house sans Lana and without his mother's prized Steuben glass egg.  He searches for her, finds her, and ends up with a house full of prostitutes, a Porsche in Lake Michigan, a pair of over-sized Ray Ban sunglasses, a series of warnings from an unhinged pimp, and an opportunity to make a lot of money.

The acting in the film is consistently excellent and it is clear why Tom Cruise truly became Tom Cruise after this film.  Rebecca De Mornay, as Lana, takes the typically thankless role of the prostitute/love-interest and gives it unexpected depths in creating a truly fascinating character that deserved more screen-time (and Lana had a considerable amount of screen-time).  As Guido the killer pimp, Joe Pantoliano goes completely unhinged and is both terrifying and endearing: we truly believe him as he says he likes Joel, while simultaneously threatening to kill him.  This film shows Tom Cruise as he was before his personal life got in the way of his career, when he was just a promising young talent.

The film's true worth lies in what it reveals below its surface: the film is a resounding condemnation of the economic principles the eighties stood for.  A conversation between friends early in the film reveals this message clearly.  Joel asks his friends if they would rather do something worthwhile with their lives or just make money.  They looked at him, mildly amused, and responded with a resounding claim of what they wish to accomplish: to make money.  The satire is very effective and almost goes unnoticed; essentially every character in the film is a capitalist first and a person second.  If Joel and Lana weren't so likable, they would be thought of as despicable (he turned his home into a brothel, come on).  It is quite easy to imagine Tom Cruise's Joel turning into the Charlie Sheen character in Oliver Stone's Wall Street after a decade or so.

Risky Business was released in 1983 and is clearly an eighties film, almost painfully so.  From the fashion to the score to the attitudes, the film practically screams its release date.  Luckily for the film, it does almost nothing to hinder its effect; if anything, the fact that it is dated only adds to the satirical aims condemning the culture to which all of these little capitalists so cheerfully belong.

Brutally satiric, wickedly funny, and proudly raunchy, Risky Business is a film that has earned its reputation and deserves to be regarded among the best of the coming of age films.  Its stars, Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay, shine and give star-making performances.  Cruise used the (well-deserved) momentum from this film to end up being one of the biggest stars in the world; De Mornay did not become the big star that she should have been following this film, but she did a stellar job none the less.  The film has many merits, few pitfalls, and is well worth your time.  Follow Miles' advice, say "What the f*ck" and watch Risky Business.

9/10

Note: This review was previously posted on another blog I wrote.