Eric’s Bad Movies: ‘Cocktail’ (1988)
“Cocktail” isn’t the worst film to be featured in Eric’s Bad Movies at Film.com, but it is among the most boring and emotionally hollow. If anyone other than Tom Cruise (at the height of his popularity) had starred in it, it would have been a made-for-USA Network special.
Someone e-mailed me to ask that I reinstate the “guess next week’s movie” game, and I explained to him why I had stopped. (It was because I wasn’t working a week ahead, so I often didn’t know what the next movie would be.) Then that person posted a comment last week imploring me to reinstate it, as if I hadn’t already explained its absence to him privately! So that person is dead to me and can’t guess anymore. We don’t tolerate cheekiness around here.
Anyway, next week’s movie is from the latter half of the 1990s and stars two people who had (and still have) music careers (separately — they’re not a duo) but became famous for their acting. One of them is definitely more famous now for acting than for music, while the other could be argued either way (but I’d lean toward acting). A third cast member is an Oscar-winner who has a close relative who’s also an Oscar-winner. A fourth cast member was in a famous Oscar-winning movie, though he himself did not win one. A fifth cast member has been nominated for an Oscar, but for writing, not acting. Make your guesses below, if you so choose.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:19 am
I haven’t checked to see if all of your details match yet Eric, but my guess is Anaconda.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:54 am
All the details do indeed check out, so I think your guess for Anaconda is probably a bullseye.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Anaconda:
Jennifer Lopez - Singer/actress
Ice Cube - Rapper/actor
Jon Voight - Oscar Winner, father of Angelina Jolie, Oscar Winner.
Eric Stolz - Oscar winning movie: Pulp Fiction? Mask? Jerry Maguire?
Owen Wilson - Oscar nom for Royal Tenenbaums
August 28th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Well done ClobberGirl. I had a feeling that the first person referenced was J-Lo and from there it wasn’t hard to track down which movie it was (although most of her movies are bad). I agree with your assumption.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Yep, I think it’s Anaconda as well.
August 28th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
I was thinkin’ maybe Selena, but I think you got it right.
August 28th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I’m thinking “Anaconda” too, but of course I get no credit as I wasn’t the first to suggest it.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
“Crossroads,” with Britney Spears and Kool Moe Dee.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I void my guess. “Crossroads” was from 2002.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
(Also, neither person is famous for their acting. Maybe for their “acting” but not their acting. In conclusion, I am an idiot.)
August 28th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Anaconda sounds right to me. Forgot about that mess o’ film. I immediately thought of Meat Loaf as the actor Eric was talking about for some reason. But every time “the Loaf” has been in a movie with great actors, it’s usually been a great film (think “Focus”).
August 29th, 2008 at 6:40 am
I was really hoping it was “Back to the Beach,” with Frankie and Annette.
Sadly, it’s probably just Anaconda.
*sigh*
August 29th, 2008 at 10:39 am
I was hoping it would be something with Kevin Bacon, but no. It’s totally Anaconda, which was my first but late guess.
August 29th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
I totally suck at this game.