Mum's Monday: Cocktail

There is more to life than money. It takes Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise) a while to realise this.

For some people, leaving the army can be seen as a new start or as a them having an uncertain future. For Brian however, all he wants is to make money that is essentially all he thinks about. We see him go from job interview to job interview and being told that he needs more qualifications for the types of jobs he is going for. Looking exhausted, he walks up to a bar with a sign in the window advertising a job. This is a good portrayal of realising that you may have set your first sights too high and a job is a job.

The bar is run by Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown) who gives him a trial, which Brian passes, but without the odd mishap along the way. With Doug’s help Brian finds his way and they end up making a great team, helped along by a catchy soundtrack to the film.

Doug also has his sights on making money and it seems the two of them together are not the best influence on each other outside of the bar life.

After a falling out and another life lesson on women from Doug, Brian ends up running a bar on a beach in Jamaica a while later. Doug arrives and much to the surprise of Brian; he has married Kerry (Kelly Lynch) who is from a rich family. I feel Brian was doing well in Jamaica and he meets Jordan Mooney (Elisabeth Shue) who we can see they are made for each other. Jordan is from a rich family, but doesn’t flaunt it like Doug and Kerry. This poor taste spills over to Brian when Doug makes a bet that Brian can’t pull a rich woman. Brian being swept along takes the bet. This is a bad move and I wish Doug had left well alone and had stayed away from Brian.

Brian wins the bet and goes off with Bonnie (Lisa Banes) where they end up back in New York and who is, although rich is totally unsuitable for him, Brian does realise this and storms off. He finds Jordan again; she is working as a waitress. Even though her family is rich she still wants to pay her own way in the world. This does show that you can still be a down to earth character, even from a wealthy background, you don’t have to flaunt your money just because you have loads.

It turns out Doug has blown a fortune on an unsuccessful bar, which was funded by his wife’s family. It also emerges he is all talk and hasn’t got a clue how to run his own business. As the character is portrayed Doug finds himself with what he sees as no other option but to end his life. Meanwhile, Kerry is being taken home by Brian and makes a move on him. This shows what a farce the idea of marriage is between Doug and Kerry. Luckily we see Brian is better than that, and this film makes this very clear.

After Brian finds Doug has committed suicide, this is when Brian realises there is more to life than money and sees where having money has left Doug and makes it clear (which is long overdue) that he wants to be with Jordan no matter what, she is then cut off from her family when they realise she wants to be with a bartender and Brain having grown in character throughout the film is not bothered by this and takes her with him.

At the end, we see Brian happier than he was at the beginning, he has his wife Jordan, who is pregnant with twins and with help from his uncle, he is now running his own modest bar called Cocktail and Dreams. It is nice to see his dream fulfilled.

There are many life lessons in this film, Doug’s character could have derailed this film in more ways than he did, but Brian came along way since the beginning and learnt a lot, and being the better person stayed far stronger and won out in the end.

This is about more than just mixed drink; this film is a cocktail of life.