Risky Venture

Pretty much everyone in the world has seen those 70 seconds of Risky Business, set to that famous Bob Seger tune. But until recently, I'd managed to avoid the other 90-odd minutes of it.

It's a bit of an odd comparison to make, but I found it to be somehow similar to Ferris Bueller's Day Off, had that movie been made with an R rating and a generous helping of nudity. At least, the raw formula is rather the same: a high school student with rich parents and a pretty charmed life goes through a series of wacky hijinks but comes out smelling like a rose. Ferris is, of course, almost completely unflappable, while Tom Cruise's Joel Goodson gets more "flapped" in the course of the movie.

Probably because of this comparison, fair or not, I found Risky Business to be rather lacking. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, after all, is one of my favorite movies. Anything like it is sure to fall short in my book.

But there were bright spots among the supporting cast, which included Curtis Armstrong (you most likely know him as Booger), Bronson Pinchot (you most likely know him as Balki), and Joe Pantoliano (from all sorts of places). Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay are fine too.

Still, the movie comes off to me like a mixed bag. It's not in the "gross-out comedy" style, nor the romantic comedy style. Actually, it's not really consistently funny enough to be an all-out comedy. It dances near the edge of some darker themes, but never lets the jeopardy get real enough to be suspenseful, or even all that engaging. It's good for a few smiles, overall, but is ultimately nothing that great.

Too much a product of its time, perhaps? In any case, I rate it a C+.