Compared to The Graduate in several reviews, Risky Business is an initially enjoyable, cynical teenage fantasy that is ultimately disappointing as it quickly runs out of original ideas and becomes highly, and frustratingly, improbable with everything working out too perfectly in the end. Tom Cruise has never been more appealing, and the famous scene where he dances in his underwear is still a highlight, but his character becomes exasperating especially when he leaves the hooker alone in his parents house not once, but twice the easier for her to rob him blind. De Mornay's hooker is pretty, but unlikable and she and Cruise have no real chemistry; their sex scenes have no heat and
I wish Joel hadn't rescued her from her pimp: they deserve one another. After a while you wonder why he doesn't call the police to get rid of her and her friend and Guido the pimp. And wouldn't the police show up during the wild house party with cars jamming the street and a truck delivering a bed in the middle of the night! This in the same affluent Chicago suburb that was the setting of Ordinary People. The film has an unearned reputation as some sort of classic, but even with superior production values for this genre Risky Business is only a better than average teen comedy which is saying very little.
Review of Risky Business
