DIRECTOR ROB REINER'S ROAD MOVIE COMEDY 'THE SURE THING'

John Cusack painted like Andrew McCarthy in THE SURE THING Year: 1985 Rating: ***1/2

In director Rob Reiner's road movie THE SURE THING, his more mainstream-vehicle-followup to the groundbreaking rockumentary THIS IS SPINAL TAP, side-characters played by Tim Robbins, Anthony Edwards, Boyd Gains, and Lisa Jane Persky are so overly one-dimensional, the two leads, John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga, seem even more real...

Polar opposites Cusack, as an endearing goof, and Zuniga, an uptight hidden beauty, journey cross country to Southern California... Cusack to meet a gorgeous blonde (the sure thing) and Zuniga to see her stuffy fiance... 

Daphne Zuniga and John Cusack in THE SURE THING

The first half hour, taking place at the East Coast college, is where we really get to know their personalities before the trek begins: which, once underway, goes from one funny misadventure to the next, leading to a purposefully predictable turnout: boy and girl fall in love... till they reach their destination.

Director Rob Reiner... whose decade-long winning streak covered every genre and was hybrid of cult and mainstream... keeps things rolling in this comfortably adventurous "rom-com" with creatively lustful reverie sequences thrown in for good measure: though it must be said, the only real flaw is that girl-next-door Zuniga is actually much cuter than titular bombshell Nicollette Sheridan. 

Daphne Zuniga and John Cusack in THE SURE THING

Nicollette Sheridan in THE SURE THING