The Sure Thing

It’s hard to underestimate how knowledgeable this movie is about the difference between what people think they want and what they really want.

Reiner's splendidly confident, witty teenage variation on It Happened One Night.

The Sure Thing is a small miracle. Although the hero of this movie is promised by his buddy that he'll be fixed up with a "guaranteed sure thing," the film is not about the sure thing but about how this kid falls genuinely and touchingly into love.

In the past few years, we've seen or heard every teenage joke at least twice. What we haven't seen much of is a little teenage tenderness, the kind that we find in the concluding scenes of The Sure Thing. [1 Mar 1985, p.FN]

A charming surprise.

The only problem with the movie is that it really has little to say beyond the acknowledgement of young love. By contrast, Benjamin's Racing With the Moon, was so careful not to be clever -- in the process telling a good deal more about real feelings -- that The Sure Thing feels lightweight. It's nicely made and well-acted, and it is a bauble nonetheless. [1 Mar 1985, p.C11]

ROB REINER'S debut as a feature film director with the mock "rockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap was as invigorating as his second film, The Sure Thing, is depressing: not since Michael Cimino followed The Deer Hunter with Heaven's Gate has there been such a dramatic comedown. [1 Mar 1985]

This movie, for some reason, has never been in the regular rotation of 80s movies that show on cable, but with the untimely death of Rob Reiner, I decided to finally seek this one out. What a disappointment. The problem starts with John Cusack, an actor I generally like. His character is insufferable -- immature, loud, annoying, hyper, thinks he's clever -- I could go on. And I'm supposed to believe an absolute sweetheart babe like Daphne Zuniga would be interested in him? He **** constantly and is so argumentative. I get he's supposed to be an immature college freshman, but that doesn't mean I want to spend 90 minutes of movie time with him, let alone a cross-country road trip. Beyond the leads, the editing is weird (some scenes abruptly end, like they couldn't think of a line or a look to end it) and pacing is off. Also, the tone is a mess -- it's supposed to be a romantic comedy, but there is an attempted **** scene played for laughs (in which Cusack saves the girl), which didn't even work considering its the 80s. Character development was also slip shod - Zuniga's charcter supposedly learns the benefits of loosening up from Cusack. Why would she learn that? His idiocy just leads to them having a hellacious cross-country trip. It does get a bit better as it goes on, as Cusack calms down and everyone starts acting more like actual people, but too little, too late. This movie seems like a dry run, in some ways, as When Harry Meets Sally but it is far below that.