Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

College freshman Gib decides to go cross country to visit his friend in California during winter break. Waiting there for him is a bikini-clad babe whom his friend assures him is a "sure thing". Allison, a retentive girl at Gib's college has also decided to head out to see her boyfriend during break. Gib and Allison are thrust together on a road trip, and somewhere along the way, they find each others company to be tolerable......A staple of eighties Teen movies, it's your age old story of a guy travelling a long way to sew his oats, but obviously falls in love with the stuffy girl who has rejected him time and time again.The clichés are rife throughout, they hate each other to begin with, they begin to grow on one another, become jealous of each other, and what do you know? The final act features a big party, Hawaiian shirts, your token jock best friend, and the nerdy boyfriend.I wouldn't have it any other way. This was the beginning of Cusack's golden age in cinema, and it goes to show just what a great actor he is. He owns the film, and even though he's your atypical college boy, with an awful motivation for travelling, you can't help but like him.The couple both learn life lessons from each other, they run afoul of a few people, there are some funny scenes, nothing hilarious, but it's just a comfort food sort of film.You just know what's going to happen, it ticks every box in the eighties teen comedy checklist, but you just sit there and let it take you away with its nostalgia.

"The Sure Thing" is another romantic film which follows the "opposites attract" formula ("It Happened One Night", "Keith", "Some Kind Of Wonderful", "Pretty In Pink", "The Sure Thing", "A Walk To Remember" etc etc) in which a sheltered but beautiful girl gradually falls in love with an underachieving, free-spirited boy.The director here is Rob Reiner, and his template is Frank Capra's "It Happened One Night", Reiner unashamedly homaging and then reworking whole chunks of Capra's film for young audience member. The film's "better to be in love than to be chasing sex" message is typical of these testosterone fuelled teen fantasy movies, but somehow it all manages to work, thanks largely to another super likable performance by a John Cusak and a couple sensitive moments between him and co star Daphne Zuniga.8/10 – Three iconic scenes and a neat sequence with Tim Robbins lift this routine teen comedy above the pack. Worth one viewing.

This is an excellent movie at a great price from amazon.Get it as a Xmas present or to watch with your loved ones.This is a college romance(why don't they make those anymore?) and thus has more depth than the high school romcoms that are either gross or immature.At a New England college we see 2 students in an English Lit. class.He is brash,irreverent,superficial,make-it-up-as-you-go-along guy.She is studious,prim,organised,focused.You just know that they are made for each other,because each can save the other from their foolishness. The question is will they realise it? A series of disastrous encounters between the 2 reinforces the poor opinion each has of the other during the school term(and there are some great lines to remember).But each is going to L.A. for the Xmas holidays.Cusack to meet every guy's fantasy- a date with a gorgeous California girl,that his best buddy has set him up with and whom is guaranteed to be a "sure thing"! Zuniga is going out to L.A. to see her equally studious boyfriend whom she calls at 7.45pm each night.By accident ,they find themselves in the same car sharing the trip with 2 others(who are absolutely hilarious simpletons).Zuniga and Cusack spend the whole trip arguing,bickering and annoying each other to the point that they get abandoned in the roadway by the others.And so they decide to hitch/walk to L.A. Along the way they start to discover different facets of the other,that challenge their hitherto first impressions. She can be spontaneous, open minded and warm.He can be gallant and caring.Watch for the scene in the truck driven by a wonderfully sleazy actor (did he play the drill sergeant in "full metal jacket"?)where Cusack basically saves Zuniga from a fate worse than death (as Jane Austen would say).But every time these 2 start to get closer,something prevents them from coming together.My wife shouted at the screen-"Kiss her now you idiot!" twice-once after the beer chugging scene, and once after the waking up scene.Anyway,as the trip unfolds,we see Cusack's recurring fantasies about his blonde "sure thing" begin to wobble.Until finally,to his surprise and part horror,his recurring dream about the blonde morphs at the crucial moment into Zuniga which wakes him up with a start.His true feelings about Zuniga are beginning to surface and Reiner handles this beautifully.Watch how her suitcase plays a key role too.Throughout the trip she is lugging this big suitcase with everything you could need as any organised girl would.And he lets her do it.But at a key point,Cusack picks it up for her and says "that's OK I got it".And that's when you know he has fallen for her big-time. But once more,just as you think they are going to be OK,he manages to screw it up,when he tells a truck driver (who is giving them the final ride to LA)that he is going there to meet his sure thing.Zuniga,who doesn't know why he is going to LA as it hasn't come up,wakes up in the back just as Cusack is boasting about the "sure thing",and she feels totally betrayed-given her growing feelings for him,but doesn't say anything. When they get to LA ,all hell breaks loose,as she throws back in his face the comments she overheard .They are totally confused about their feelings for each other,but neither knows how to break the cycle of closeness followed by distrust.She goes to her boyfriend and he goes to meet the blonde at a party. Once with her boyfriend Zuniga realises that she can't stop thinking about Cusack,and misses being with him.So,she talks her boyfriend(who is clearly destined to be an ex-boyfriend)into going to the party.There she works hard to get Cusack jealous,and then watches Cusack as he returns the compliment.A big argument ensues between them ,and she storms out in a jealous rage.In a one-sided conversation with herself out loud,Zuniga runs through ALL the things that upset her about Cusack ,with some great lines(from Zuniga-"he thinks love is something you can order like a pizza!").They both leave the party separately. She with boyfriend ,he with blonde. Does she go to bed with her boyfriend?Does he go to bed with the blonde? We don't know. But the next time we see them,they are in the same English class again after the holidays ,where she won't talk to him. And then the English prof reads out loud from the best essay that has been handed in after the Xmas vacation.It's called "the sure thing" and it's by Cusack. Zuniga cringes in horror expecting the final humiliation-and a public one at that.But as the essay is read out by the prof to the class ,something happens in the essay that she did not foresee at all.It becomes clear that Cusack understood the difference between the "real thing" (with her)and a "sure thing" (with the gorgeous blonde) and that the "real thing" is what counts. "You didn't sleep with her?" Zuniga asks filled with surprise/wonder. Aaah..... see the rest for yourselves.My teenage kids loved it,and maybe they will remember it and focus on the "real thing" as they develop their relationships.

I've seen all the classic 80's teen movies (Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Fast Times at Ridgemont High etc. etc.) and this has surely got to be up there with the best of the best from them.John Cusack plays Walter Gibson in the laid back, dead-pan but hysterically funny way that only he can and Daphne Zuniga is great at the archetypal ridged, sock arranging, daddy's girl who is in serious need of loosening up! Great supporting parts from Anthony Edwards (Private Gibson, incoming!) as his best buddy who's out in California and having a ball and Tim Robbins for his short but lively show tunes madness (Gary Cooper, but not the Gary Cooper that's dead!).Definitely stands the test of time and everyone should go and watch it right now - in fact I must get my copy out and watch it again! Enjoy!