You know the scene, you know that image of very young Tom Cruise’s grinning face in sun glasses, you already know something about the film even if you’ve never seen it. Sliding around the floor in just his socks, underwear and shirt, parents gone, house to himself. This scene is the one that everyone has seen before. But what’s incredible is that this is but a snippet of what Risky Business is about.
When his parents go away on holiday, leaving him in the house alone, High School senior Joel decides to make the most of it. After been hounded by his friends, Joel invites call girl Lana over. But after a night of sexual pleasure, Joel finds himself stuck with never ending problems, including having to fix up his father’s prized car. To try and help, as well as helping herself, Lana convinces Joel to have party, he invites his friends and she’ll invite her friends/co-workers.
With the famous scene near the start of the film, there is room to sink in and just watch the chaos ensue as Joel makes one bad decision after another. Joel’s naivety is what brings him down throughout the film. Teased by his friends for not having sex yet, practically hoodwinked into ending up with a call girl and then being abandoned when he needs help, at least they all show up for his extra special party. Joel can do no right in this film, except maybe in Lana’s eyes. Despite the mad dash to the finish line to have everything in the house back in order, all it takes is one tiny crack in a glass egg for his parents to be disappointed. The sense that, Joel was doomed no matter what, makes the film have a slight scent of reality and grounds the whole story just for a minute.
Unlike his friends, Joel isn’t shown to have a special skill or academically inclined, he’s painted as an average, half decent guy just trying to get through high school. But he comes into his own when he must ‘sell’ the party to his friends. Though, enticing wealthy teenage boys to come to a party with lots of willing beautiful girls isn’t a tough sell. But still, Joel seems to be finally in his element and there’s even a hint to that typical Tom Cruise ‘charm’ that we’ll see in all his later films. Pairing opposite Cruise is Rebecca De Mornay as Lana, who almost matches his energy. Coming across as someone who takes opportunities where she can Lana is an enigma and unlike Joel who we seen some development, Lana remains a mystery. We’re never quite sure who truthful she’s being, anything she does to ‘help’ Joel is also beneficial for her. From over dramatic and ethereal entrance to her ambiguous last few lines, Lana never gives too much away, which would be infuriating if the story was over a longer period but a week, she’s just a base character, she could have been more.
There’s no question as to why this 80’s teen comedy is considered a classic. It is not just the breakout roll from one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, it represents a teenage boy’s dream and pure farcical entertainment at naïve boys for the teenage girls, a common trend in 80s teen movies. Risky Business is entertaining and though would never have worked outside its release era, there’s still many laughs to be had.