The Sure Thing (1985) * * * *

Directed by: Rob Reiner

Starring: John Cusack, Daphne Zuniga, Anthony Edwards, Tim Robbins



At one point (many years ago), The Sure Thing was my favorite movie. Period. I would rent it weekly at the video store and make sure that each of my friends watched it so that they would love it like I did. Their reaction was much more tepid than mine. I'm sure they liked it, thought of it as a sweet romantic comedy, and moved on with their lives. Something about The Sure Thing really stuck with me. At the time, it idealized romance for me. Since the plight of the characters was so touching, I started to believe that every couple should start out disliking each other at first point and fall in love after a series of misadventures. Wouldn't it be more fun that way? I also waited impatiently for a sequel. After all, this wouldn't be the last I ever see of Gib and Allison, would it?

As it turns out, love is a lot simpler without all the drama. It's very difficult to have someone overcome that bad first impression of you and if a girl doesn't like you, it means she doesn't like you and isn't holding a secret crush on you because she fears rejection or something else. And biggest lesson learned of all: You can't make someone love you. Even knowing all of this now, I still believe The Sure Thing contains delightful material and remains a sweet, touching comedy.

In the age of the Internet and cell phones, it would be very difficult to make this sort of film today. This is a film that really only could've been made in the mid-80s and remaking it today would take away its unique approach to teenage love. The plot is certainly as timeless and retread as any other road romantic comedy. College freshman Walter "Gib" Gibson (Cusack) is a likable guy who doesn't take his studies as seriously as his social life. This catches up with him and because he's failing English, he persuades an attractive classmate (Zuniga) to tutor him in English.  It turns out he's not as interested in English as he is Allison and Zuniga invites him to get out of her life.

Fast forward to Christmas break. Gib is invited by his high-school buddy Lance (Edwards) to come to his California college over break to meet and get lucky with The Sure Thing (Nicolette Sheridan-looking foxy in a white bikini). This propels Gib into action and he hitches a ride with a nerdy couple and, of course, Allison, who signed up for the ride to visit her long-distance boyfriend in California. Because Gib and Allison didn't care for each other in the first place, it comes as no surprise that their constant bickering gets them thrown out of the ride.

Together, they have to hitchhike their way to California, meanwhile getting to know each other and eventually fall in love by the time they hit California.

I'm certainly not giving away something plotwise that wouldn't be figured out quickly.   But The Sure Thing works better than most teen romantic comedies of the time (and today) because the leads are human.   They are insecure, likable, interesting, charming, and we care about them.  They are not 30-somethings pretending to be teenagers (like in Porky's).   They also don't seem to know everything about sex at the ripe old age of 18 either.     All of this was refreshing then and comparing to teen romances of today, this is refreshing now.

Director Rob Reiner was just starting out in film directing when making The Sure Thing. It was his follow-up to This Is Spinal Tap and box-office smashes like A Few Good Men, The Princess Bride, and The American President were still ahead of him.    Here he shows a deft comic touch and a knack for moving things along.   There isn't slapstick or gross-out humor, but comedy that comes from the characters' personalities and their unusual situation.    Such humor comes out in the scene in which Gib and Allison are caught in the rain and come across an abandoned trailer attempting to seek shelter in it:

Gib (banging the door lock with a rock). It's important that THIS place has an airtight security system...IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!!

Allison: I have a credit card

Gib: (slowing up the banging of the door) Credit cards work on a totally different kind of lock. Oh, you have a credit card.

Allison: Oh, but my Dad told me specifically that I can only use it in case of an emergency.

Gib: Well, maybe one will come up!

The two don't shout at each other and no one breaks something or slips in the mud.  It actually works to get a laugh and succeeds.   The film is very much like that.   It takes the road less taken, which is great.