The Sure Thing (Special Edition)

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" goinga date with a very hot and very sex-craved blonde (Sheridan) across the country in LA. Crossed by fateand the ride-share bulletin boardGib 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 luck, their temperaments change and Gib realizes that the only sure thing isthat losing the real thing would be the worst thing of all!

Two mismatched college students (John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga) find themselves trapped together during a cross-country road trip, trying to make it home for the holidays. She can't stand him, and he just wants to get to L.A., where a sexy "sure thing" is waiting to greet him with open arms. It's not hard to predict where this sweetly old-fashioned romantic comedy is going to end up, but along the way there are many pleasures to be had. Director Rob Reiner, in his second feature (after This Is Spinal Tap), has a nice eye for the kitschy flotsam found along the American highway, and his identification with the college kids doesn't condescend to them one bit. The movie helped make a star of John Cusack, who gives a delightfully spritzy performance--kind of a precursor to his similarly energetic, likable turn in Say Anything. Given the usual crass tenor of Hollywood college movies, The Sure Thing is something to treasure. --Robert Horton