Primetime Cinema Obscura Movie Night - THE SURE THING (1985)

Welcome back you admirers of forgotten cinema. Welcome to our new season of Primetime Cinema Obscura Nights!

I like mainstream Hollywood movies as much as anyone. And we'll continue to keep the drive-in nostalgia feelings going with the Backyard Movie Series events during good weather. But to be honest...probably 70-80% of my movie collection are films that many have never heard of or have forgotten (and therefore may not attract enough interest to make it worth spending a day setting up my backyard for).

So welcome to the smaller, more intimate Cinema Obscura Movie Nights. In some cases they may be mainstream classic movies (I have great fondness for 40's - 50's film noir). In some cases they will be foreign, arthouse, or documentary films that I treasure in my collection, often because they are now out of print. Some will be genre films for people who like to watch the bizarre/weird labors of love that used to play at drive-ins and grindhouses. In all cases we'll leave time to discuss the movie afterwards.

To open our indoor season, I simply couldn't let the passing of Rob Reiner go without notice. Of course in this format it's actually kind of hard to find a Rob Reiner movie that people haven't seen a million times. And this movie may be one of them. However, I suspect there are more than a few of you who can be forgiven for letting this forgotten gem of a romantic comedy go by without you noticing. It was only Reiner's second film (after THIS IS SPINAL TAP (1984)), and it could probably be considered John Cusack's first major starring role after a string of memorable supporting roles in movies like SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984). Throw in the always underrated Daphne Zuniga, who is for some inexplicable reason only remembered for her role as Princess Vespa in SPACEBALLS (1987), as well as a cute early supporting appearance by Tim Robbins as an incredibly white fan of showtunes, and a pre-ER (1994) Anthony Edwards, and you've got the makings of one of the most charming movies on the early 1980's.

In true Reiner style, THE SURE THING takes an established and tired genre and turns it on its head, giving audiences something they weren't expecting. I mean...how many of you really went into THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987), essentially an adult fairy tale masquerading as a children's story, realizing just how good that movie was going to be?

Here Reiner takes a genre that in 1985 was beyond tired with a plot that involves a college freshman who travels 3000 miles across the country to get laid. But instead of giving us PORKY'S (1981), Reiner essentially makes an intelligent, PG-13 rated road movie for adults that perfectly captures that angsty transition between childhood and adulthood when the word "love" becomes something more than a seduction technique. At the same time Reiner harkens back to numerous "road movie" comedy classics, including most notably the Academy Award winning IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. That's rarified company, but I truly believe the comparison is justified. At the very least, THE SURE THING showed Hollywood that Reiner could direct narrative film beyond the somewhat niche SPINAL TAP, whose script was largely improvised.

One critic lamenting the tragic loss of Reiner last month mentioned just how much of a hole his passing would leave in Hollywood. He considered Reiner the king of a type of movie that just doesn't get made anymore - the mid-range, mid-budget and highly entertaining and intelligent film for adults. And while this movie may have been marketed as something other than what it was for financial reasons in light of the PORKY'S of the world, in reality it was the first glimpse into a unique filmmaker that we will all sorely miss.

Hard limit on this will be 16 attendees because that's about as many as my living room will hold comfortably.

I'll get whatever cheese plate Central Market is pushing that week. I'll have some soft drinks, coffee, and hot chocolate if it's cold out. Maybe some other food if the mood hits me. All else will be BYOB. We'll snack and chat for about an hour before the movie, which will start around 7:30.

See you then.