“My name is Joel Goodson. I deal in human fulfilment. I grossed over $8,000 in one night. Isn’t life grand?!”
Left to safeguard the family home while his parents are away, promising 17-year-old student Joel Goodson (Tom Cruise) seizes the chance to have the time of his life.
But when a friend’s prank results in Joel being visited by troubled prostitute Lana (Rebecca De Mornay), things get out of hand as he turns his parents’ home into a brothel.
Writer/director Paul Brickman honed a sharp satire on American go-getting here, as Joel – with his parents away and the use of his father’s Porsche (which he sinks in Lake Michigan) – starts making money out of his sexually frustrated friends.
The danger comes when pimp Guido (Joe Pantoliano) arrives on the scene (“never, ever fuck with another man’s livelihood”), and that’s when this comedy of embarrassment becomes a near-tragedy of class collisions.
Joel Goodson
Tom Cruise Lana
Rebecca De Mornay Guido
Joe Pantoliano Rutherford
Richard Masur Barry
Bronson Pinchot Miles
Curtis Armstrong Joel’s father
Nicholas Pryor Joel’s mother
Janet Carroll Vicki
Shera Danese Glenn
Raphael Sbarge
Director
Paul Brickman
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