Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

kittysmith-23122 The film that made Tom Cruise into a megastar. Risky Business is about an 18-year-old kid whose parents leave him for the weekend and he ends up doing some crazy things. Its strange to see Tom Cruise so young, especially dancing in his undies to "old time rock and roll". The film has an amazing collection of songs and the soundtrack by Tangerine Dream is out of this world. You have to see this film just to see where it all began for a guy who is quite possibly the biggest movie star on Earth for the past few decades.

slightlymad22 Continuing my plan to watch every Tom Cruise movie in order, I was unable to track down a copy of Losin It, so I went straight to his first movie of 1983, Risky Business.Plot In A Paragraph: A suburban Chicago teenager's parents leave on vacation, and he cuts loose. An unauthorised trip in his father's Porsche means a sudden need for lots of money, which he raises in a creative way.I've never been a huge fan of this movie, don't get me wrong, I don't dislike it, I just find it watchable and nothing more. This was the breakout role for Cruise, and he does a good job for the most part, some of his lines are a bit forced, but over all, he is OK. Rebecca De Mornay is the best thing in the movie, the whore with a heart of gold is a clichéd role, but she does well with it. Joe Pantoliano (an actor I always enjoy watching) is great as a pimp, Bronson Pinchot is his usual reliable self and Richard Masur has a small role too. It's interesting to see a young Cruise on the cusp of stardom, and it has some good dialogue too, but overall it's not one I care to revisit. Risky Business grossed $63million at the domestic box office, to end the year the 10th highest grossing movie of 1983.

MisterWhiplash It may be difficult for some, and for the younger ones the context is not there, but do you when Tom Cruise really gave a full PERFORMANCE? By this I mean in a movie where he had to play at a full range of emotions and explore a character who has to face real obstacles and has an arc that takes him on a journey from one place in his life to another - in this case the "coming of age" story, perhaps some pun intended- but one that didn't require him to run away from explosions or kill people (I won't say he doesn't run at all in this movie, though here it's for things like making sure he's not late to school)? This is one of them, the one that made him a star, and it's clear to see why as we see him as Joel start out in a rather simple position - a teenager with girls on his mind (or, more accurately, sex) but with some neuroses and doubts - and through some decisions involving the idea of "hey, f*** it" gets in way over his head.Risky Business is the kind of film that might not be able to get made today; imagine a studio exec hearing a pitch that involved a teenager getting a call girl, let alone setting up basically a (brief) brothel out of his house, to pay off some very bad luck moments and decisions he gets in to with the Rebecca Demornay character (and Joe Pantoliano, what a great heel he gets to play the hell out of! every moment's a delight that he's on screen). It probably would be laughed off, or told it wouldn't make much money. I'm glad someone took a chance on it at the time, since it holds up today. For the most part. As long as you meet it halfway, which isn't too hard. Indeed Brickman's tone as a filmmaker is to make things feel rather serious and grounded in the style so that when their is humor, and there's a lot, it comes out of awkward tension and behavior.It has a constantly fascinating mix of comedy and drama not unlike The Graduate. No, it's not in that league, but Brickman swings for the fences as far as depicting as honestly as he can under the circumstances he sets up for himself (which are a little just pre-John Hughes world, it IS Illinois by the way so the milieu is somewhat the same). You feel the struggle that Joel has, and hope that he can get out of his predicament, though at the same time he keeps getting into more precarious waters. It's relatable, especially if anyone ever got into just a little trouble as a younger person, which I assume are most of you. It's simply that Risky Business takes things further and further along.And it's sexy. Boy is it a sexy looking, sounding (Tangerine Dream's score is wonderful), and acted and performed. But it also finds the humor in sex too, how absurd it is to suddenly see about a dozen beautiful women come through a door, one by one. So if you want to see a studio dramedy that takes chances with an early Tom Cruise performance where he's acting his ass off, this is one. You have to suspend your disbelief, such as for how things like money transactions with prostitutes actually work and how it seems like ALL of the male high schoolers and ALL the attractive call girls just happen to be around and willing to go for it over one night), but as the film plays you really don't question things too much and can go with the fun and real *stakes* that this very R-rated story has.It's comical, thrilling, and it takes genuinely surprising turns that come naturally from plants and payoffs in the story. Risky Business is not at all what I expected, which was just some goofy and dopey teen comedy (the iconic, yes, iconic, shot of Tom Cruise in the underwear doing the first lip-sync battle with no one to Bob Seger was all I really knew about it), and what I got is a movie for adults that happens to have teenagers as the main characters.

jason-georgis As a 17 year old in his last year of high school, this movie really spoke to me. The main character Joel Goodson is so easy to relate to that this movie became an all-time favorite of mine. This movie really captures the essence of teen life and shows it beautifully. In a few words, most teens are happy to be independent, desperate to be flushed with cash, and always willing to blow off steam in one way or another. Everything in this movie, from the iconic dance scene to rocking house party, really nailed how teens spend their time, making it a great film to watch if you're of that age. Not only can you see yourself in the characters, but the plot is magnificent! Very few movies (Meet the Parents comes to mind) can make you sit nervously on the edge of your seat, dreading when his parents come home, to laughing so hard that your sides hurt. Another element that I appreciate is the type of humor. Instead of making blatant, please-laugh-at-me jokes it uses more subtle comedy in which you're laughing at the situations. Tom Cruise really plays the burned-out teenager wonderfully, and Rebecca De Mornay is fantastic as the sassy yet sexy call girl. If you haven't already seen this film, please do! It's truly a classic and will leave you chuckling for as long as you it.