Cocktail (1988)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1988
Running Time	99:17 (Case: 98)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Roger Donaldson
Studio Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Tom Cruise Bryan Brown Elisabeth Shue
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$24.95	Music	J. Peter Robinson

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Cocktail is one of the quintessential 1980s movies, that I remember fondly from my youth.

    The story of Cocktail is based on Heywood Gould's novel of the same name. Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise) arrives in New York, fuelled with self-help books and a driving ambition. After his Wall Street and Madison Avenue careers fail to ignite, Flanagan ends up working behind a bar in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Teaming up with the cynical and seasoned barman (Bryan Brown), who takes a shine to him, Flanagan is soon juggling bottles, and mixing cocktails, to the beat of the Hippy Hippy Shake. However, just as things are starting to get interesting, the story dissolves into the boy meets girl, girl falls in love with boy, boy betrays and loses girl, boy realises that he loves girl, boy tries to win girl back, paint-by-the-numbers plot.

Video

    Overall, the transfer is a little grainy but good.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness of the image is reasonable, but the shadow detail is poor. For example, consider the scene in the bar at 16:08.

    The colour appears a little darker than it should be, and a tad under-saturated.

    There are no MPEG or film-to-video artefacts to complain of.

    Film artefacts appear throughout, but most are small.

    There are two sets of English subtitles present; both are accurate.

    This is not an RSDL disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Originally released theatrically in Dolby Stereo, and remixed into Dolby Digital 5.1 for this DVD, the audio retains much of its original stereo feel.

    There is only one audio option, the English Dolby Digital 5.1 track.

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are fine.

    The musical score is credited to J. Peter Robinson, but it is the numerous pop songs that are remembered. Apart from the aforementioned Hippy Hippy Shake, the movie's soundtrack also includes Rave On, Addicted To Love, Kokomo, and Don't Worry Be Happy. I recall buying this soundtrack album as a teenager, and loving it!

    There is a reasonable surround presence and activity. While, the surround sound mix is quite front-heavy, the rear speakers are used  to help carry the score throughout, and to provide ambience, such as the subway at 3:56 or the waves at 56:49.

    The subwoofer never drew attention to itself, but wasn't missed either.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There are no extras.

Menu

    A very simple menu, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced. It is static and silent.

    Cocktail was released on DVD in Region 1 in August 2002.

The Region 4 DVD misses out on:

• Trailer for Dangerous Minds.

The Region 1 DVD misses out on:

• Nothing.

    I would favour the local release for its affordability, and most importantly, its superior PAL image.

    Cocktail is a fairly empty, but harmless movie. I remember it as being a great date-movie from my teenage years, and watching the DVD might provide you with a touch of 80s nostalgia.

    The video quality is good overall.

    The audio quality also good.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall