Tom Cruise Lip Sync Battles With Cruisian Intensity on ‘Tonight Show’
Tom Cruise is making the promo rounds in support of Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, and last night (July 27) he visited The Tonight Show to chat and play one of Fallon's infamous games. Given Cruise's penchant for grinning, occasionally-manic FULL COMMITMENT, an epic round of "Lip Sync Battle" was a must.
As Jimmy explained the rules, Tom warmed up with some free-form laughter and muttered, "so ridiculous, I love it." Jimmy then catches the giggle bug himself (as he so often has, on both SNL and Tonight) but Tom pulls himself together to take on The Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face." He does okay. But it's just a warm-up.
Jimmy challenges him with the Rolling Stones' "Undercover of the Night," which plays to the host's Mick Jagger-mimicking strengths. How will Tom ever top that? The Roots have an idea: Their keyboardist launches into the opening chords of Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll," which soundtracked Cruise's iconic Risky Business underwear romp.
But nope — after a brief intro, Tom revisits his youth with some Meat Loaf. Either Tom needed time to warm up or his passion for the track exceeds his evident Weeknd fandom, because he's now operating at maximum OST VIII-levels of fully realized personal power and charm.
The battle reaches its climax when the opponents unite to recreate one of Top Gun's most memorable scenes, delighting/mortifying an audience member in the process. You can watch it all go down in the video above, and revisit the cinematic karaoke number they're referencing below.