The Sure Thing

1985
PG-13
1h 35m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

23K

YOUR RATING

John Cusack, Nicollette Sheridan, and Daphne Zuniga in The Sure Thing (1985)

Walter Gibson is a university freshman going through a dry spell. His old buddy arranges a "sure thing" for him in California. Gibson and his classmate Allison then take a long road trip out to Cali, and both foil each other's plans.

Play trailer2:50

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Teen Comedy Comedy Drama Romance

Walter Gibson is a university freshman going through a dry spell. His old buddy arranges a "sure thing" for him in California. Gibson and his classmate Allison then take a long road trip out... Read allWalter Gibson is a university freshman going through a dry spell. His old buddy arranges a "sure thing" for him in California. Gibson and his classmate Allison then take a long road trip out to Cali, and both foil each other's plans.Walter Gibson is a university freshman going through a dry spell. His old buddy arranges a "sure thing" for him in California. Gibson and his classmate Allison then take a long road trip out to Cali, and both foil each other's plans.

Director
- Rob Reiner
Writers
- Steve Bloom
- Jonathan Roberts
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

23K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Rob Reiner
Writers
- Steve Bloom
- Jonathan Roberts
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 2:50

Official Trailer

Photos84

+ 77

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Actress Daphne Zuniga once said: "It's hard to admit, but I really was a lot like this character."

Goofs
When Gib teaches Alison to shotgun a beer, his pants become soaked with beer, but when he leaves the room they are completely dry.

Quotes
Professor Taub: [reading Gib's Paper] 'It could be tonight,' he though as he stood in the corner, pretending to have a good time. He would meet her tonight. All his young life, he had dreamed of a girl like this. 5'6, silky hair, trim, nubile body. Nubile, by the way, is spelled with a "u".
[Continuing]
Professor Taub: Trim, nubile body that really knew how to move. And soft, deeply tanned skin. Now as for personality traits, she needed only one. She had to love sex and all the time. To arrive at this moment, he had traveled vast distances enduring many hardships. Abject poverty, starvation, show tunes, you name it. From across the room, he saw her. She was perfect. He knew almost nothing about her and she didn't know much more about him. It was exactly how it was supposed to be. He brought her to his room. The lights were soft, the moment was right. Then she leaned over and whispered in his ear, 'Do you love me?' Thoughts raced through his mind. Did she really want him? What had he done to deserve this bounty? Does God exist? Who invented liquid soap and why? 'Do you love me?' Staring into her eyes he knew that she really needed to hear it but for the first time in his life, he knew these were no longer just words and if he said it, it would be a lie. 'Do you love me?' she whispered. 'Do you love me?' It would not be tonight. The answer was no.

Alternate versions
This film has an alternate version. The first scene of the alternate version starts with the scene right before Lance's dialogue "Private Gibson" to Gibson (John Cusack) where Gibson is sitting alone. This version doesn't have scenes with Gibson's dialogue to two women. This version delete the scene where Gibson's roommate is making love to his girlfriend. This version also doesn't have the scene where John Cusack kisses the girl in Lance's room close to the end of the film.

Connections
Featured in At the Movies: The Beach Boys: An American Band/Maria's Lover/The Purple Rose of Cairo/The Sure Thing (1985)

Soundtracks
Infatuation
(Main Title Song)
Written by Rod Stewart (as R. Stewart), Duane Hitchings (as D. Hitchings) and Roland Robinson (as R. Robinson)
Performed by Rod Stewart
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records, Inc.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products
Published by Rod Stewart/Hitchings Music/Rowland Robinson Music

User reviews85

Review

Featured review

10/10

Stands up to time pretty well, actually...

Just for the heck of it, I pulled out my copy of The Sure Thing and watched it again. It's held up well since I first saw it on video in 1986. Yeah, the music is a little old, and Jason, Alison's boyfriend, still grates on me because I looked like him, but in all other respects it has held up well. What carries it is that it's the classic John Cusack Movie, where Cusack is just being... John Cusack. Totally real, totally unpretentious. You can see it in everything else he's done, even things of totally different style, like "Eight Men Out" and "The Grifters." He just rules the screen and the production ends up recalling pictures like "His Girl Friday" and "It Happened One Night." This has stood up to nearly fifteen years of viewing pretty well. Compare and contrast other stuff of that era, like "St. Elmo's Fire," and "Fast Times At Ridgemont High." Or any Tom Hanks movie of the period.

I've now come back five years after originally posting this review (it's now May, 2007) and I say, this film STILL stands as a classic Cusack, even after I have (in the interim) loved "Pushing Tin," "Being John Malkovich" and of course the amazing "High Fidelity." And to this day, I have been known to say, in bars, "BARKEEP! Bring this man...a TROUGH... of spritzer!"

And just remember...

"Credit cards work on a completely different kind of lock!"