Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Sure Thing Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 21, 2015

What a difference a year makes. 1984 saw the release of Rob Reiner’s first feature film as a director, the ebullient send up This Is Spinal Tap, a raucous, occasionally lunatic, satire of the excesses of the rock music industry. Reiner, still probably best known back then for having played “Meathead” on All in the Family, took a 180 degree turn for his next film, the sweet and strangely underappreciated 1985 “teen comedy” (more about that in a moment) The Sure Thing, a film which offered a young (as in teenaged) John Cusack in one of his first starring roles. The Sure Thing plays a bit like a postmodern, younger skewing version of the venerable Frank Capra classic It Happened One Night, with two mismatched but obviously “meant for each other” people thrust together on an improbable road trip, where they both need to overcome various obstacles as well as an inherent (supposed) dislike for each other. While there’s nothing overly profound about The Sure Thing’s depiction of an amorously inclined young college kid named “Gib” Gibson (John Cusack) who can’t quite seem to find the appropriate angle to convince brainy Alison Bradbury (Daphne Zuniga) a second (or perhaps even a first) glance, the film is rather charming and gently pleasing, offering a nicely measured portrayal of young folks attempting to find themselves (and maybe each other in the process), a portrayal wonderfully devoid of gross out humor and other tricks of the so-called “teen comedy” trade.

The Sure Thing’s tag line, which is reprinted on the cover this new Blu-ray, offers a not exactly revelatory A sure thing comes once in a lifetime. . .but the real thing lasts forever. That pretty much gives away the whole megillah as far as this film’s frankly unambitious plot arc goes, but it does little to actually detail the surprising amount of charm and heart the tags along on a somewhat predictable journey. Gib and his best buddy Lance (Anthony Edwards) are graduating from high school and looking forward to new vistas to conquer while in college. Lance is going to be living the California lifestyle, while Gib is heading off to the supposedly tonier if considerably less sun drenched climes of New England and the Ivy League.

Gib reveals via some voiceover in a “letter” to Lance that his matriculation in college is going great, by which he means he’s lying through his teeth and things are going horribly. Even his pudgy roommate is more successful with the chicks than Gib is, and Lance doesn’t make it any easier by sending him a snapshot of an absolutely gorgeous woman, upon which he has inscribed, “This is the ugliest girl in California.” Things perhaps are looking up, if only for a moment, when Gib seems to develop a hankering for Alison Bradbury, a pretty if studious young woman who sits next to Gib in the English class of intimidating (but nurturing—of course) Professor Taub (Viveca Lindfors).

Gib makes a disastrously transparent play for Alison, failing spectacularly, a situation which makes it very awkward when through the vagaries of chance (and/or rom-com screenwriting), these two end up on a cross country road trip together. Lance has acted as a wingman for Gib and lined him up with that gorgeous blonde in the snapshot (Nicollette Sheridan), whom Lance describes as a "sure thing," but only if Gib can get out to Los Angeles in a few days, before the stunner takes off on a trip. Alison, meanwhile, is attempting to hook up with her boyfriend, Jason (Boyd Gaines). Gib and Alison are not only stuck with each other in the car driving cross country, they’re hostages (at least for a little while) of the car’s owners, Gary Cooper (Tim Robbins) and Mary Ann Webster (Lisa Jane Persky), the type of overly perky people you just want to punch after a while, especially when they insist on singing show tunes like “Aquarius” from Hair.

The main plot arc of The Sure Thing lives up to the film’s title, offering a completely predictable “hate at first sight” scenario which of course morphs into true love. But the wise and winning screenplay by Steven L. Bloom and Jonathan Roberts manages to convey both realism and whimsy (the latter courtesy of recurring fantasy sequences where Gib escapes into dreams involving the Sure Thing). Cusack is surprisingly sweet in this film, not yet having fallen into some of the smug and smarmy tics he later developed as an adult actor. Zuniga isn’t quite as sure as Alison, but is resolutely appealing, even if the character is often unbearably uptight. Robbins and Persky are a hoot as the hyperbolically cheery couple attempting to drive the addled Gib and Alison to their destinations. Reiner paces things very well, arriving at a destination that’s completely expected but perhaps unexpectedly fun along the way.

The Sure Thing Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Sure Thing is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The elements utilized for this transfer have a few minor issues, including age related snafus like scratches and the like. Colors are slightly anemic looking at times, but perk up considerably in the more brightly lit outdoor sequences. In fact some of the most vivid looking sequences in the film are the moments when Gib and Alison are (literally) on the road, shots that offer both commendable clarity and good depth of field. Close-ups reveal decent to above average levels of fine detail (see screenshot 5), but things can look fairly soft throughout this presentation. An organic layer of fine grain is well in evidence and helps to give the presentation a natural look. There are no signs of overly aggressive digital tweaking, so while not perfect, this is a solid effort that generally looks good to very good, if not great.

The Sure Thing Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Sure Thing offers the film's original mono presentation via DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, as well as a somewhat restrained DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 repurposing. The 5.1 mix really springs to life when source cues dot the soundtrack, but otherwise tends to only sparsely utilize the side and rear channels. Nevertheless, fidelity is excellent and dynamic range surprisingly wide for this kind of relatively sonically reserved feature. There are no issues with dropouts or other damage to address in this review.

The Sure Thing Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Road to The Sure Thing (480i; 26:16) is a vintage featurette with some good interviews.


• Casting The Sure Thing (480i; 7:18) features some interesting interviews with some of the casting directors.


• Reading The Sure Thing (480i; 5:00) features Steven Bloom reading his original treatment.


• Dressing The Sure Thing (480i; 8:48) focuses on costume designer Dorinda Wood.


• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 2:56)


• Commentary with Director Rob Reiner. Reiner, while fairly low key, delivers a really entertaining commentary here. His opening riff on auditioning Nicollette Sheridan is hilarious.

The Sure Thing Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Sure Thing isn't especially profound or meaningful, but it's often surprisingly sweet and just as often quite funny. Cusack and Zuniga are well paired, and the fantasy sequences between Cusack and Sheridan are sure to snag any red blooded male's attention, especially when Sheridan gets to spout lines that sound like they were written by some hormonal caveman's idea of what a woman sounds like. Slight but never shallow, The Sure Thing offers a kind of relationship "prequel" to Reiner's (admittedly better) When Harry Met Sally.... While this 30th Anniversary Edition isn't a slam dunk and/or home run, it offers generally solid video and audio and comes with agreeable supplementary material. Recommended.