Ep 21: The Sure Thing

5 responses to “Ep 21: The Sure Thing”

1. This movie was mildly entertaining, but I didn’t think it was a great romantic comedy. I just didn’t think there was enough of a basis for their romance. The podcast gave me a lot to think about, especially related to the question of whether I need to think the couple will last forever in order to “buy” the romance… I don’t think I do. I’m probably a lot like Jenny in this. I, too, love 10 Things I Hate About You, and the romance there completely works for me, but I never walked away thinking those characters were going to graduate high school and get married. In The Sure Thing, I barely believe these characters will last three months. I don’t understand what they see in each other.

   And I take issue with the “shotgunning a beer.” I don’t care that they did it, I just don’t see how this new skill is the thing that has helped her live her life more freely.

   I am looking forward to seeing the other John Cusack movies on the list, though. I’ve always liked John Cusack, even though I haven’t seen the movies that are considered his best. Better Off Dead and Gross Pointe Blank should be fun.

2. I actually enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would. I had not a huge fan of early John Cusack movies. This probably says more about me as a teenager than Cusack as an actor.

   That said this movie really does bother me if taken from beginning to end. The characters – especially the college girl – are just so inconsistent. This probably says more about me as that college freshman who wrote down everything in my notes and had everything in the calendar and never went to parties.

   But the humor is fantastic and I really enjoyed most of the second half.

3. Hm, I think I had a different take on it from everyone else.

   With regards to the boob-flashing: that girl was MAD at him in that moment and she just SNAPPED. Given how annoyed she’d been at him even before the road trip (he’s been pissing her off for weeks now on campus anyway!), and having been dealing with him 24-7 since then, I didn’t think that was out of character for her at all. Okay, yeah, she’s not a boob flasher under normal circumstances, but I could see her doing a giant F U gesture when she’d finally had enough. She’s not THAT restrained enough to keep her temper to herself in that moment. Or maybe I’d just snap like that and have sympathy 🙂
   As for the day-timer, people forget their important shit when distracted.

   The point of the Uptight Meets Wild trope is that the girl has to unclench a little, so I didn’t think it was out of character for her to start doing that throughout. But also, he stops acting like so much of an ass. I didn’t like Gib too much in the start because he’s an 18-year-old dimwit, but he starts to smarten up, show consideration for her, and stuff like that.

   I don’t like the “wah, jealousy” thing either (I don’t get jealousy anyway), but sadly, everyone does it regardless of any logic and reason.

   Really, where the change comes for me is when he hops into the truck and is acting so crazy in order to save her. And he’s so crazy funny about it that she’s actually SMILING even though the creepy guy’s literally got her by the neck and in that position she’s still in danger. That is where it all starts to flip for me (also when she passes up her paid-for bus ticket to stay with him), and it worked.

   Anyway, this is probably one of my top movies in this series.

4. Aww, you guys made me sad with your commentary. Especially the whole thing about the movie making fun of the couple that sings show tunes in the car. Okay, I love show tunes but that was freaking annoying. If I was in someone’s car driving across the country and someone was singing showtunes the whole time and then they expect me to join in or else they get pissy, then yeah, something is wrong with them. I don’t think they’re being snotty at all. That’s annoying. But Gib and Alison were being annoying with their constant snarking at each other too and I think the movie showed that. And everyone is expected to cheer when the showtunes couple drives off because they deserve it. So I really don’t get the snotty problem.

5. Yeah, but you snap in character. If she’d bashed him over the head with her day planner, I’d have bought it. But she hasn’t done one sexual thing for the entire movie in spite of the fact that he’s pretty cute. Even if he’d said something stupid earlier like, “Could you at least flash me or something?” and then she flashes somebody else to spite him. But just all of a sudden, she takes off her shirt, which I also didn’t believe, and then hangs out the window and yells, “here they are, boys, come and get it”? She’d have to be insane. If she’d been a giggly coed or at all flirting with him or other guys, maybe. I love the rif he does when he gets in the truck to save her, but I didn’t believe she wouldn’t have popped that guy in the nose on her own. She was never a wimp. Even when she goes to the mixer at the end, she’s wearing a preppy sweater tied around her neck. That girl would not flash a car full of guys who just mooned her.