Rob Reiner · 1985 · road

Rob Reiner's 1985 romantic comedy, his second feature after This Is Spinal Tap, in which two mismatched college students share a cross-country ride from New England to California and fall, inconveniently, in love. A warm and witty entry in the road-trip genre that helped define the modern romantic comedy. The route runs coast to coast across the United States.

1. 1
   New England

   Gib, a wisecracking East Coast college freshman striking out with women, is promised a guaranteed good time, a sure thing, by a friend in California.

2. 2
   The Midwest

   He hitches a cross-country ride for the Christmas break and is thrown together with Alison, an uptight classmate heading the same way, the two of them bickering across America.

3. 3
   Los Angeles

   By the time they reach the California coast, the sure thing has come to mean a great deal less than the girl he has fallen for on the road.

4. 4
   New England

   Back on campus after the break, awkward around each other, until Professor Taub reads out Gib's essay about the night with the sure thing - and Alison hears in it what actually happened, which is nothing.