The Sure Thing

John Cusack stars in one of the finest teen flicks of the 1980s

The Sure Thing is always overlooked when people come to talk about teen movies. Ferris Bueller will always get a mention as will The Breakfast Club and even Cusack's other teen movie Say Anything (which has little to recommend it except for the iconic scene of Cusack holding a stereo above his head). For this reviewer, The Sure Thing is superior to them all.

It's a pretty simple storyline (aren't all teen flicks) of a teenager on the road, with the promise of guaranteed sex at the end of his journey. He's accompanied by a seemingly prim and proper young lady just begging to fall victim to Cusack's cheeky grin. And it's Cusack here who lifts the movie into the realms of teen classic. Bar one or two scenes where he overdoes the tomfoolery, the scene in the truck where he is trying to scare off Alison's abductor springs to mind, Cusack's charm really brings the movie to life.

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Let's not forget that this is a movie with real heart too. Today's teen movies tend to rely on gross out humour whereas as this actually has a touching love story at its centre - witness the dinner date when Cusack's Gib and Daphne Zuniga's Alison really start to hit it off.

Notable too for being one of Rob Reiner's earliest movies, after Spinal Tap. Following this he would go on to direct The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Stand By Me and Misery, not bad for an hugely overlooked director.

The Sure Thing succeeds because it's not overly sentimental, it has some great comic scenes, a winning turn from Anthony Edwards and a fantastic cameo from an insanely funny Tim Robbins. Ignore the dated fashion (why did kids always wear suit jackets with the collars turned up?) and woeful music and instead sink into a rom-com indulgence that, this time, even the guys will enjoy. 80's teen movies weren't so bad after all!