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Celluloid
RomanceDramaComedy

Cocktail

Directed by Roger Donaldson · 1988 ·

LLM fact sheet (.md)

Answer Summary: Is Cocktail worth watching?

Cocktail (1988) earns a 37% Celluloid Score — Not Recommended. Not Recommended — reception was largely negative.Audiences (58%) responded more warmly than critics (9%).

Quick Verdict: What is the Celluloid Score for Cocktail?

Averaged from five public sources (critic, audience, Metascore, Letterboxd, IMDb). See how we calculate scores.

37%
Celluloid Score Not Recommended

Five-source breakdown

9% Critic Score
58% Audience
12 Metascore
★★☆☆☆ Letterboxd 2.4
5.9 IMDb /10
Runtime
1h 44m
Cast
Tom Cruise , Bryan Brown , Elisabeth Shue , Lisa Banes , Kelly Lynch , Gina Gershon , Ron Dean , Ellen Foley , Chris Owens , Louis Ferreira

Where to watch

Not confirmed on any major streaming platform yet — check local listings.

Why this score?

  • Critics were divided or negative (9%).
  • Audience reception was lukewarm (58%).
  • Celluloid Score 37% averages all five public rating sources — our own composite, not a third-party trademark score.

Best for

  • Short runtime — easy weeknight watch
  • Crowd-pleaser seekers — audiences liked it more than critics

Not ideal for

  • Anyone needing a safe, highly rated pick

Scores reflect data indexed at build time. Component sources are shown on this page; Celluloid Score is our composite, not a third-party trademark. Scoring policy

Is Cocktail worth watching?

No — Cocktail earns a 37% Celluloid Score. Not Recommended — reception was largely negative.

Critics Consensus

Cruise as a flair bartender chasing the American dream — a campy ’80s romance that remains a guilty-pleasure search title.

Celluloid Critics Consensus

Audiences (58%) responded more warmly than critics (9%).

What is Cocktail about?

After being discharged from the Army, Brian Flanagan moves back to Queens and takes a job in a bar run by Doug Coughlin, who teaches Brian the fine art of bar-tending. Brian quickly becomes a patron favorite with his flashy drink-mixing style, and Brian adopts his mentor's cynical philosophy on life and goes for the money.

Reader takes

No reader takes published yet — be the first helpful voice.

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