His friend Miles ( Curtis Armstrong) gives him a big song and dance about saying “What the fuck,” to life, and when Joel finally does take a chance, it backfires wildly on him. From the start of the movie to the finish, everyone pretty much walks all over him. Sex and money wins, and Joel is now a “man.”īy comparison, Joel never has the advantage. Joel still gets to go to an Ivy League college and he got to have sex with a gorgeous woman. The worst thing that happens to Joel in the end is that his mother is disappointed that her glass egg gets a crack in it. It’s treated as wild, fun, and Joel finally learning to say “What the fuck,” with the only real consequence being Guido stealing all of Joel’s stuff (which Guido then sells back to Joel). When he’s finally running a brothel out of his home, it’s not treated as a questionable or despicable way to profit off women having sex with teenagers. It’s a movie that pokes fun at Joel, but never questions his desires or values. Although some have cited Risky Business as satire, it seems like writer-director Paul Brickman is playing it much straighter than that, diving more into fantasy and wish fulfillment for his lead character. Risky Business is both a great and terrible fantasy of the American white, male, heterosexual teenager.
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