Tune In Tuesday: “Risky Business” Criterion Blu-ray: A Fever Dream of Suburbia’s Wild, Sexy, and Chaotic Descent"

A wild, throbbing pulse of ‘80s teen rebellion hits like a rush of Red Bull injected straight into your corneas—Criterion’s Blu-ray of *Risky Business* is nothing short of a trip into the dark heart of American greed, lust, and capitalism’s smooth-talking promises. This is Tom Cruise at the peak of his fresh-faced, underwear-dancing audacity, a preppy kid plunging headfirst into the neon-lit abyss of Chicago’s underworld.  

The transfer? Clean as a freshly laundered Oxford shirt, with enough clarity to see the sweat dripping off Guido the Killer Pimp’s brow. Tangerine Dream’s synth score pierces through the speakers like a siren’s call from a better, sexier timeline where every bad decision feels like a good one. The Criterion packaging screams “art house chic” but crack it open and you’ll find a delirious rollercoaster of commentary tracks and behind-the-scenes nuggets that reveal *Risky Business* as both a comedy of errors and a manifesto of youthful ambition teetering on the edge of disaster.  

Tom Cruise struts through this thing like a jittery prophet, and Rebecca De Mornay’s Lana is pure, uncut femme fatale—both of them riding the wave of their mistakes with the kind of reckless abandon you only get when you’re 17 and invincible. The Criterion extras dive deep into Paul Brickman’s direction, his razor-sharp commentary on the cost of capitalism wrapped in the soft velvet of teen drama. It’s like eating filet mignon in a McDonald’s parking lot—luxury framed in trash culture.  

And let’s talk about *that* train scene—Criterion’s 4K restoration makes the sweat and smudged glass so vivid, you feel like you’re the voyeur. It’s sensual, it’s haunting, and damn it, it’s iconic.  

If *Risky Business* is about selling your soul for a shot at the American Dream, this Criterion release is the ultimate Faustian bargain—selling you the nostalgia you didn’t know you needed, with enough technical brilliance to make you think, *“Did I just accidentally buy a masterpiece?”*  

Buy it. Watch it. Dance in your underwear. Live a little.