The Sure Thing

Reiner's splendidly confident, witty teenage variation on It Happened One Night focuses on two students hitching across the States through rainstorms, starvation and show tunes. He's a libidinous layabout who inadvertently dropped in to college. She's an uptight goody-goody who believes spontaneity has its time and its place. There's plenty of mileage in this pairing, even if the movie isn't going anywhere unexpected. It now looks like a dry run for When Harry Met Sally..., and some of the dialogue is every bit as sharp: 'Have you ever considered a sexual encounter so intense it could conceivably change your political views?'