Underplayed Gems

The Sure Thing (1985)

The Sure Thing poster
Directed by
Rob Reiner
Genre
romantic comedy, Christmas film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 34m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
6.5 of 10 from 328 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Two college students who don't get along are forced to share a ride across the country during Christmas break. They each want to meet a perfect partner waiting for them in Los Angeles. But their road trip changes their feelings for each other.

light-heartedromanticfunnyoptimisticfeel-goodfast-pacedquirkywarm

What happens

The Sure Thing is a 1985 American romantic comedy road film directed by Rob Reiner and starring John Cusack, Daphne Zuniga, Viveca Lindfors, and Nicollette Sheridan. The film chronicles the cross-country journey of college students Walter Gibson (Cusack) and Alison Bradbury (Zuniga) as they make their way from New England to Los Angeles over Christmas break, each in an effort to meet their ideal romantic match. Written by Steven L. Bloom and Jonathan Roberts, The Sure Thing marked Reiner's second directorial feature after This Is Spinal Tap (1984), and Cusack's first major starring role. Released theatrically in the spring of 1985, The Sure Thing was a box-office success and received mostly favorable reviews from film critics, who commended it for its traditional comedic structure, with some likening it to a modern version of Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934), though Reiner himself stated that the parallels between the two films were unintentional. In 2017, the British Film Institute ranked The Sure Thing among Reiner's top five feature films. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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