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The Sure Thing

The Sure Thing & Valley Girl on DVD

Here's a couple of 80's teen sex romps, kind of, one of which could arguably be considered a classic of the 80's teen sex romp genre.

The other one ain't classic nuthin'.

John Cusak fans will find that The Sure Thing is what they'd expect from the actor, and Rob Reiner fans will find the same thing about it from their perspective. The movie is clever, it's funny, it's charming, and it's well worth your time in the home theater.

Then there's Valley Girl, which pretty well personifies everything bad about mindless teen sex movies: it's slow, it's a crashing bore and - the cardinal sin for a comedy - it isn't in the slightest bit funny. Your home theater would be within its rights to walk out of your home if you subject it to this flick.

Well, okay, it isn't quite that bad...

In The Sure Thing, Gib Gibson (Cusak), a popular college freshman has a "sure thing" fall into his lap: a date with a gorgeous, horned up blonde (Nicollette Sheridan). The catch? She's on the other side of the country.

So, naturally, he starts out on a cross-country trek to satisfy his hormones. Alas, his tripmate ends up being his exact opposite, a bookwork who really rubs him the wrong way (Daphne Zuniga). Naturally, during the long trip, they begin to see the good in each other and the rest is cliched history.

Except that The Sure Thing transcends the cliches and ends up being a darn good lightweight flick. Though we'd rather be torn apart by wild dogs than compliment uber-liberal Rob Reiner, the guy did a good job - and so does the cast. Of course it all starts with the script, so we must also compliment Steven L. Bloom & Jonathan Roberts.

Valley Girl

Then there's Valley Girl, proving that it takes more to make a good movie than a good cast.

Julie (Deborah Foreman), a popular high school girl from the San Fernando Valley area of greater Los Angeles, meets the rather punkish Randy (a very young Nicolas Cage) who crashed a party she's at. They hit it off, despite being from different worlds. He looks and acts a tad rough, but he's really an okay guy.

But, in true Capulet versus Montague tradition, Julie's friends don't approve and when they force her to choose between her friends and her one true love, well, she dumps the guy and starts a life of misery.

As in any Romeo and Juliet tale, of course, she realizes she's best off with Randy than with her flaky friends, and we all know what happens next.

The parallels between the Shakespearean tale are obvious and labored, but this dud of a flick missed the most famous aspect of R&J's relationship: neither one of them dies.

Instead, the film does.

Oh, the acting's fine. Cage does a good job in this "Before they were famous" moment, but overall this puppy don't hunt. Too bad.

As far as the DVD quality goes, both discs are okay though, as with the movie, The Sure Thing is the better disc. It features anamorphic widescreen video that's pretty clear and grain free, with good color. Audio is "Digitally Enhanced" 5.1 Dolby Digital, which basically means it's digitized mono. We noticed no surround, not really any stereo of substance, even. Oh, well, what can you do?

Extras include a 25-minute "The Road to Sure Thing" featurette with new interviews with director Reiner, stars Cusack Zuniga and Sheridan and writers Bloom & Roberts. You also get three shorter featurettes on various production aspects, a running commentary by Rob Reiner, a trivia track, and trailers.

Valley Girl also sports an anamorphic widescreen image that's pretty good, though not quite as good as The Sure Thing's. It's a tad grainy throughout and rather soft as well. Its audio is supposedly Dolby Digital 5.1 surround that also sounds suspiciously like mono.

Extras include two featurettes featuring cast & crew interviews, an "In Conversation" thingy with Nicolas Cage and director Martha Coolidge, an audio commentary track by Coolidge, a video commentary track, storyboard-to-film comparisons, music videos, an 80's trivia track, and trailers.

Both DVD's also offer a mono soundtrack. But why?

The Sure Thing, from MGM Home Video
95 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1, 16x9 TV compatible), Dolby Digital 5.1 surround-ish (also mono)
Starring John Cusack, Daphne Zuniga, Viveca Lindfors and Nicolette Sheridan
Produced by Roger Birnbaum,
Written by Steven L. Bloom & Jonathan Roberts, directed by Rob Reiner

Valley Girl, from MGM Home Video
99 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1, 16x9 TV compatible), Dolby Digital 5.1 surround (also mono)
Starring Nicolas Cage, Deborah Foreman, Elizabeth Daly, Cameron Dye,
Produced by Wayne Crawford
Written by Andrew Lane and Wayne Crawford, directed by Martha Coolidge

 

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