The Sure Thing

Starring:John Cusack, Daphne Zuniga, Anthony Edwards, Boyd Gaines, Tim Robbins, Lisa Jane Persky, Viveca Lindfors, Nicollette Sheridan, Marcia Christie, Robert Anthony Marcucci, Sarah Buxton, Lorrie Lightle, Joshua Cadman, Krystal Richards, John Putch, Steve Pink, Tracy Reiner, Martin J. Layton, Amy Resnick, Robert Bauer (III)
Director: Rob Reiner
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Two mismatched college students (John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga) find themselves trapped together during a cross-country road trip, trying to make it home for the holidays. She can't stand him, and he just wants to get to L.A., where a sexy "sure thing" is waiting to greet him with open arms. It's not hard to predict where this sweetly old-fashioned romantic comedy is going to end up, but along the way there are many pleasures to be had. Director Rob Reiner, in his second feature (after This Is Spinal Tap), has a nice eye for the kitschy flotsam found along the American highway, and his identification with the college kids doesn't condescend to them one bit. The movie helped make a star of John Cusack, who gives a delightfully spritzy performance--kind of a precursor to his similarly energetic, likable turn in Say Anything. Given the usual crass tenor of Hollywood college movies, The Sure Thing is something to treasure. --Robert Horton

Description

John Cusack (Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity), Daphne Zuniga (Spaceballs) and Nicollette Sheridan ("Desperate Housewives") star in this charming tale of true love that's at once "intelligent, fun, a bit devilish [and] delightful, frisky and perceptively funny" (The Hollywood Reporter)! College freshman Walter "Gib" Gibson (Cusack) has a "sure thing" goinga date with a very hot and very sex-craved blonde (Sheridan) across the country in LA. Crossed by fateand the ride-share bulletin boardGib makes the trip with a studious and abrasive coed (Zuniga). But as they mount every obstacle from show tune-singing simpletons and bad weather to leering truck drivers and worse luck, their temperaments change and Gib realizes that the only sure thing isthat losing the real thing would be the worst thing of all!

Customer Reviews:

The "Sure Thing" is a Sure Bet .......2007-06-22

On the heels of hits like Breakfast Club and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Sure Thing may have escaped the notice of viewers. However, once you see it, you cannot deny the magic and simplicity of this great little gem. It relates to us so honestly, innocently, and completely with its characters, that virtually everyone can find some element that speaks the them.

I think most people, at some time or another, have found themselves attracted to someone that they have virtually nothing in common with. The irony, is that we generally don't even wonder why. We just feel the way we do. The movie follows this idea. It never asks why someone is attracted to someone with whom they have little or nothing in common.

Walter "Gib" Gibson is in his freshman year of college in New England. He's miserable. As he states, "I've never seen so much corduroy in one place." He feels that New England girls are too stuffy and intellectual. Gib is actually intellectual himself, but you won't find him "wasting his time" with his nose in his textbooks either. His best friend, Lance (and high school best friend) is at a college in sunny California. He sends Gib a picture of a beautiful blond woman and says, "this is the ugliest girl here."

Lance invites Gib out to California for a "sure thing;" a guaranteed night of passion with a gorgeous woman played by Nicolette Sheridan. There's a catch here in the story. Gib has unwittingly found himself attracted to the class "brain" of his English class, Alison. She's certainly not the type of girl that Gib has envisioned for himself, but nonetheless, he's attracted to her. Alison could care less about someone who lives their life as carefree as Gib does. Alison can't do anything without consulting her schedule book. She's an organizational freak who is incapable of doing anything spontaneous. When Gib feels that he'll never get anywhere with her, he takes Lance up on his offer.

When Gib finds a ride across country, he doesn't realize that Alison has also signed up for a ride in the same car, as she is on her way to visit her boyfriend in California.

The film really takes off from here, as these two unlikely people begin to find something appealing about the other. Alison finds herself becoming a bit more loose, and Gib finds himself becoming a bit more responsible. But, what will happen when Gib gets to California for his "sure thing." After all, the bathing beauty is the type of girl that Gib wants, right?

For those who have not seen the film, I won't say any more about this. The beauty of this film is in the journey, not the end. The best movie I've ever seen about two people getting to know each other is "Before Sunrise." "The Sure Thing" is right up there for me as well. It's realistic, and it's easy to believe what is happening between these two characters who appear to be at opposite poles with each other.

Rob Reiner does a magnificent job as the director of this film. It's as if he has the pulse of both of these characters, and makes sure that nothing is forced to produce the ending that he envisions. In this way, he's created a realistic and yet simplistic film for anyone who has ever fallen in love with someone who is completely opposite, and how two people in this situation can really learn about themselves through someone else.

This is one of my two favorite roles played by John Cusack. He simply has Gib down cold. "Say Anything" is my other favorite. Cusack seems able to play Gib without any effort. He knows him inside and out. And he makes Gib a very likeable person, despite his "flaws."

Daphne Zuniga is equally good as the uptight Alison. She wears sweaters, and keeps herself looking ultra-conservative. Daphne is a beautiful girl, but she isn't over-the-top gorgeous, and that's important for this movie because the physical attraction is NOT what motivates these two characters.

I watch this movie whenever I feel like a light-hearted comedy that tickles my funny bone as well as warms my heart.

Reliable comedy.......2007-04-07

Nice script, well acted comedy, and a young Nicolette Sheridan. Cusak is in top form.

One of my favorite movies. Cusack and Zuniga are great in early roles........2007-02-26

How this movie slipped past me until almost 2000 I'll never know. My passion for going to movies has always been sporadic, with large gaps of time with either fanatacism or apathy towards what type of movies were being put out. 1985 was when my interest was rekindled with boat loads of movies addressing my age group I must have just missed this one. I'm a huge fan of John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga, the latter of who ranks way atop my all time fave females list. Having seen most of Zuniga's relatively low output of work (I refused to lower myself to watching "Melrose Place" just to catch a glimpse of her), being told about this movie caught me way off guard, since this is both her and Cusack at their earliest. This was the first movie they both had significant dialogue and camera time and they both make the most of it. In an era where most teen/post teen flicks were covered by the likes of John Hughes, director Rob Reiner in only his second film hits a home run. Hughes movies are awesome. They are time capsule candidates for many reasons. But "The Sure Thing" connects in a totally different way with its similarly aged cast and settings, giving us a movie that highlights a slew of mixed feelings by Cusack's and Zuniga's characters, some spoken, many unspoken until push comes to shove. I don't know what it is about Zuniga, but she's always had a strong appeal to me. Maybe it's because she comes across as the unpretentious type that every guy likes. In "Sure Thing" she wavers between that personna and the "in love with being in love" dedicated to her studies and her future husband who schools on the opposite west coast where Zuniga and Cusack's cross country Christmas time journey is taking them. What starts off as a case of two complete opposites that drive each other crazy turns into an epiphany of feelings for each other despite their differences. By the movies end, it's safe to say that each has adopted a little of what makes the other person tick. Zuniga learns to loosen up a bit, while Cusack learns not to be too shallow. Reiner touches on genuine feelings and concerns of the college age characters, and from beginning to end paints a background of college experiences that anyone who's gone through it can totally relate to. He may get a little hokey or over-the-top in some scenes, in painting the straight laced extent of Zuniga's character for example. But his use of the surrounding character actors only helps soliidify the story in the foreground. "Sure Thing" Nicolette Sheridan, as the reason for Cusack's quest west, peaked in the gorgeous category with this movie. She's an abolute doll, a mere shadow of her "Desperate Housewives" character of the future. Viveca Lindfors, Tim Robbins and Anthony Edwards (during his "Nerd" years) all give major contributions with minimal screen time. Lindfors English Class Professor character and classroom setting put you in an authentic college atmosphere in bookend scenes that remind you by the movies' end that these are two young adults that are still evolving in school and in life. The closing scene is at the top of my all time romantic moments in the movies. A movie that's easy to watch repeatedly.

I still love this movie.......2007-02-21

I first saw this movie when it was released in the 80's. I loved it. Some 20 years later I had the opportunity to view it again, and I still love it. It's storyline is timeless as is it's humor. I found the exchanges between the two lead characters so natural and FUNNY. It is still one of my very favorite movies of all time. John Cusak is fabulous!! Please see it. If you want to feel good, it's a movie that will help you get there.

Juvenile humor, but solid acting........2007-02-03

A light film that entertains. Story theme is routine (boy meets girl, they don't like each other, but they grow to like each other, and then fall in love). I am a John Cussak fan, but despite any bias, the movie is an enjoyable farce of a comedy. Good sequence in the flick explaining where why folks shouldn't hitch-hike.

The Sure Thing (1985) / Valley Girl (1983) (Totally Awesome 80s Double Feature)

Average customer rating:

The Sure Thing (1985) / Valley Girl (1983) (Totally Awesome 80s Double Feature)
Starring: Nicolas Cage , Deborah Foreman , Elizabeth Daily , Michael Bowen , and Cameron Dye
Director: Martha Coolidge , and Rob Reiner
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video