| | | "The Movie, Music and Moments That Defined the Decade."
Features: DVD, Sensormatic
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" going, a date with a very hot and very sex-craved blonde (Sheridan) across the country in LA. Crossed by fate and the ride-share bulletin board, Gib 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, their temperaments change and Gib realizes that the only sure thing is that losing the real thing would be the worst thing of all!
"...a treasure...smartly written, delightfully played...and scored with a half-dozen period hits..." James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette
"Like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, its sex romp overtures hide a warm and sympathetic heart." Rob Vaux, Flipside Movie Emporium
Editor's Note
When free-spirited but juvenile Walter "Gib" Gibson (John Cusack) meets studious, uptight Alison Bradbury (Daphne Zuniga) at an unnamed Ivy League college, sparks fly; unfortunately, they are mostly of the disastrous variety as all of Gib's attempts at courtship fall painfully apart. Inevitably, the duo is tossed together when they both answer the same ad for a ride to California. While Alison is traveling to reunite with her tidy law school boyfriend, Gib is on the road to meet a beautiful girl his best friend promises him is "a sure thing." Before too long, Gib and Alison's bickering inflames the driver, who promptly deposits the two with their suitcases on the side of a lonely highway thousands of miles from their destination. As the misadventures pile up, the initially contentious pair begin to take a liking to one another--but do these two dare fall in love? Rob Reiner's initial attempt at romantic comedy pays subtle homage, with gentle lyricism, to the classic screwballs of early Hollywood. The film is buoyed by the stellar performances of the two leads, Cusack (in one of his first significant roles) and Zuniga, who are reminiscent of the great studio pairings of the past.
Plot Summary
Gib, a beer-guzzling slob, and Alison, an uptight Ivy-Leaguer, are an unlikely duo stuck together on a cross-country trip during Christmas break. At first they grate on each other's nerves but, as time passes, they find their divergent natures complement each other. Now they need to realize what they've already found before it's too late.
| Features | Audio Commentary By Director Rob Reiner | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: French Dolby Digital Mono | | Dubbed: French | | Interactive Menus | | Isolated Trivia Audio Track | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Mgm Entertainment |
| Release Date: 9/23/2008 |
| Running Time: 95 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1985 | | Catalog ID: 108973 | | UPC: 00027616089731 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Memorable Quotes| "Don't even bother, Gib. I hear she only goes for the intelligent type."----Bobby (Robert Anthony Marcucci) to Walter "Gib" Gibson (John Cusack)|"I'm intelligent and stuff...."----Gib | | "Live a little. Go to bed when you want to and not when you think you should. Eat foods that are bad for you. Talk to people whose clothes aren't color coordinated. Make love in a hammock. Life is the ultimate experience. You have to experience life in order to write about it."----Professor Taub (Viveca Linfors) to Alison Bradbury (Daphne Zuniga)|"What was that part after 'hammock?'"----Alison | | "Hi, I'm Gary Cooper...but not the one who's dead."----Gary Cooper (Tim Robbins) | | "Would you like to have a sexual experience that will change your political orientation?"----Gib to a girl at a party | | "Kid, I've never had a sure thing in my life."----Trucker (Larry Hankin) |
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| | Professional Reviews | Total Film
"...Huge hearted, immaculately cast and jammed with rewindables..." -- 4 out of 5 Stars 06/01/2000 p.104Entertainment Weekly
"...Cusack demonstrates his character's fundamental decency....[His] underlying steadiness anchors the film..." -- Rating: B 10/08/1999 pp.74-5 New York Times
"...The surest thing here is the inspiration guiding [the film makers]....Beguiling..." 03/01/1985 p.C12 Los Angeles Times
"...Cusack and Zuniga are real finds, as talented as they are intelligent....Lots of film have sweetness and humor, but THE SURE THING also has smarts..." 03/01/1985 p.C1 Chicago Sun-Times
"...A refreshing, charming and quietly wonderful love story..." 08/21/1992 p.35 USA Today
"Rob Reiner directed THE SURE THING as the follow-up project to his untoppable THIS IS SPINAL TAP, and it's still one of his best..." 08/08/2003 p.12D Uncut
"[T]his is a near-not perfect comedy that demonstrates Reiner's sure hand in any genre." 09/01/2005 p.147 Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
The love story is one of Hollywood's missing genres. The movie industry seems better at teenage movies like "Porky's," with its sleazy shower scenes, than with screenplays that involve any sort of thought about the love lives of its characters. That's why "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...One of the unique things about the movie is that the characters show a normal shyness about sex. Most movie teenagers seem to be valedictorians from the Masters & Johnson Institute. They're born knowing more about sex than Rhett Butler would have been able to teach Scarlett O'Hara. They are also, of course, not shy, not insecure, not modest, and occasionally not human. Walter and Alison are closer to real teenagers, with real doubts and hesitations and uncertainties...The other surprising thing about the film is that it successfully avoids an obligatory sex scene with the Sure Thing (Nicollette Sheridan, in a thankless role). This film is so revolutionary, it believes sex should be accompanied by respect and love! - Roger Ebert
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