Review of The Sure Thing (1985) by Catherine D — 29 May 2011

High school nerd Walter Gibson (John Cusack) is striking out with the girls with his NASA-themed pick up lines. But then graduation is past and he heads off to an unnamed East Coast Ivy League institution, while his best friend Lance (Anthony Edwards) heads out to California. Gibson tries his best moves on beautiful but uptight co-ed Alison (Daphne Zuniga). Problem is, "study break" to her means all work and no play. Promised a "Sure Thing" in a random beautiful blonde (Nicolette Sheridan), Gibson decides to do a ride-share across the country over the holidays. Unfortunately, the ride he ends up sharing is with an obnoxious couple (one half of which is a young Tim Robbins) and Alison, of all people. Thrown out of the car in middle America for bad behavior, Alison and Gib make it the rest of the way together, complete with shot-gunning beer, lost wallets, starvation, hitch-hiking, and a beneficent trucker. Only problem is, when they finally get to LA and she gets her uber-proper boyfriend and he meets his gorgeous "sure thing", it's pretty obvious to everyone that what they really want is each other.

Ah college - if only it were like a 1980s Rob Reiner film. There is nothing unique about this "opposites attract" road trip romantic comedy, but that doesn't make it bad. The characters and story are likeable enough. And the ending, while predictable, is also fitting.

Overall, young John Cusack and the film myth of college are at their best in this amusing if unremarkable comedy.