Welcome back to Bad Dads Film Review! This week we’re donning our Ray-Bans, sliding across the living room floor, and revisiting the film that launched Tom Cruise into superstardom — Risky Business (1983). Equal parts coming-of-age comedy, satire, and cautionary tale, it’s a movie that defined a certain brand of 80s cool while slyly critiquing the era’s obsession with wealth and success.
Directed by Paul Brickman, Risky Business follows Joel Goodson (Tom Cruise), a high-achieving Chicago high school student left home alone while his parents are away. Initially envisioning a week of harmless fun, things spiral after a night with call girl Lana (Rebecca De Mornay) leads Joel into a world of escalating consequences, entrepreneurial schemes, and moral compromises.
What begins as a teenage fantasy of freedom and rebellion becomes a sharply observed journey into adulthood — and a satire of the “make it big” mentality that fuelled the 80s.
While it has that glossy 80s comedy appeal, Risky Business is far smarter and more cynical than it first appears. It’s one of those films that teenage audiences might take at face value as a tale of freedom and rebellion, but adults will recognise as a sharp social critique. That said, it’s very much an R-rated outing — so maybe not one for family movie night.
In the end, Risky Business is more than just a star-making turn for Tom Cruise. It’s a stylish, clever, and surprisingly subversive look at ambition, temptation, and the thin line between opportunity and exploitation.
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