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Movies / On DVD / Risky Business
Risky Business

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Risky Business (1983)

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Reviews Counted:42

Fresh:41

Rotten:1

Average Rating:7.4/10

Consensus: Featuring one of Tom Cruise's best early performances, Risky Business is a sharp, funny examination of teen angst that doesn't stop short of exploring dark themes.

Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: Joel Goodson is the type of teenager who makes his parents proud: he's nice, handsome, intelligent, and even principled. But when Joel's parents leave town for a few days, a series of events occur... Joel Goodson is the type of teenager who makes his parents proud: he's nice, handsome, intelligent, and even principled. But when Joel's parents leave town for a few days, a series of events occur that will change Joel's sheltered life. For starters, he meets Lana, a hooker who proceeds to deflower our young hero, and then suggests he turn his home into a house of prostitution for one evening. Joel agrees, and just as sexy hookers and randy guys turn Joel's house upside down, a representative from Princeton University arrives, to interview Joel! How Joel handles this and other crises (losing his dad's Porsche, the loss of all his furniture, falling in love with a prostitute) will alter Joel's life forever. [More]

Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Curtis Armstrong, Bronson Pinchot

Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Curtis Armstrong, Bronson Pinchot, Raphael Sbarge, Joe Pantoliano, Nicholas Pryor, Richard Masur

Director: Paul Brickman

Director: Paul Brickman

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Risky Business

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
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De Mornay does sterling work as the helpful hooker, but this is Cruise's big chance, and he relishes it, putting in a believable and likeable performance.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
04/01/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Good '80's teen movie with a suitable soundtrack and the loveable Cruise displaying his new found starry confidence.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
08/06/07
Ian Nathan
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

What distinguishes it, however, is that it's hovering permanently on the brink of stark, staring disaster in a way that strangely recalls The Graduate.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

involving and entertaining

comment Comment
09/19/04
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

A capitalist wet dream; one that we have long since woken up from screaming.

Full Review Source: Clothes on Film | comment 3 Comments
07/16/09
Chris Laverty
Chris Laverty
Clothes on Film

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
04/30/09
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

It's easy to forget the idiosyncracies of a film that so successfully trades on adolescent male fantasies and nightmares. [Blu-ray]

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
09/28/08
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

It works well as a comedy but one cringes at the thought that it defined, for a while, the social expectations of a generation.

Full Review Source: DVDLaser | comment Comment
06/25/08
Douglas Pratt
Douglas Pratt
DVDLaser

This film is deftly made, the humor nicely understated, the leading actors (Tom Cruise and Rebecca de Mornay) smart and appealing.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
06/24/08
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
03/01/08
David Kaplan
David Kaplan
Kaplan vs. Kaplan

One of the finest film explorations of the end of innocence.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
08/06/07
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader

One of the key films of the 1980s, and proof that a teen sex comedy could merit serious consideration.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
08/06/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Writer-director Paul Brickman can therefore be accused of trying to have it both ways, but there's no denying the stylishness and talent of his direction.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
08/06/07
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Paul Brickman makes a splashy debut with a stylish youth satire that conveys more vividly Reagonomics and the corrupt and decadent decade of 1980s than serious dramas like Wall Street; it's also a wonderful showcase for Tom Cruise, who became a star.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
04/25/07
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Mildly diverting, wildly overrrated.

comment Comment
08/29/06
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

No review available.

comment Comment
11/14/05
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

Now classic Cruise-in-briefs highlights the goings on.

comment Comment
10/14/05
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com

No review available.

comment Comment
09/20/05
Rebecca Murray
Rebecca Murray
About.com

A classic! Welcome to stardom Mr. Cruise.

comment Comment
01/08/05
Michael A. Smith
Michael A. Smith
Nolan's Pop Culture Review

It's funny because it deals with subjects that are so touchy, so fraught with emotional pain, that unless we laugh there's hardly any way we can deal with them -- especially if we are now, or ever were, a teenage boy.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
10/23/04
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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