Jerry Maguire

"Jerry Maguire" did something very strange in 1996: it had both critical and commercial success. This was evident in the fact that the four other Best Picture nominees for the year were all independent productions. "Jerry Maguire" shows the business world of America at its worst, in this case in the sports industry. When Jerry Maguire, a sports agent, (played by Oscar-nominated Tom Cruise) has a breakthrough one night he realizes that quality is more important than quantity. Of course he is fired from his job and loses all of his clients except Rod Tidwell (played by Cuba Gooding, Jr. in his Oscar-winning performance). Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger) has left the business with Maguire, agreeing with his views. However, Maguire struggles with his separation from the sports corporation (losing his fiance and the first pick in the NFL Draft). However, he survives and learns that living well and loving well are the keys to happiness. All in all, "Jerry Maguire" is classic Hollywood stuff made in the present-day. Cameron Crowe's script and direction are subtle, but extremely effective. Tom Cruise delivered his best performance to date. Renee Zellweger proved to be the find of the year and Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s quotes and scenes he stole were enough to win him the Oscar in a very competitive year in the Best Supporting Actor category. "Jerry Maguire" is not a perfect film. In fact it is flawed in many ways and is not very accurate in some areas. However, its ability to mix comedy, romance, and drama make it a very entertaining film. The performances are all excellent. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

"Jerry Maguire" has to rate as one of the most quotable movies of the last decade and a half. It's given us the lines "Show me the money", "Help me, Help you", "You had me at hello" and "You complete me". And it's that last line, that really describe this movie. It's really about the growth of an individual. We see Jerry Maguire the character, grow from just an agent to becoming much more, it's not an easy trip but for the most part it's an entertaining one.

Jerry Maguire is a top sport agent. He has a decent amount of big names as client and he's engage to a beautiful woman. Then one day while visiting one of his client in the hospital, the client's young son confronted him after he gives the client a shallow encouragement. The confrontation stick in his mind and would even get him to write a "mission statement" for the company. The "mission statement" basically lays out a plan that the agents give their clients more personal attention. Unfortunately his boss doesn't like it.

The movie gives us a look at the world of the sports agents. Who are they that gets a cut of an athlete's earning and do they really deserve it? In the beginning they're just there to negotiate the numbers and get the athletes as much exposure. In the end, Jerry has become more than a guy who makes deal for an athlete. It also gives us a look at some clients they're more demanding than the agents are prepared to handle. But if handled right they will prove to be worth the trouble.

Jerry Maguire is played by Tom Cruise, and he gives one of his best performance. I think it's every bit the equal of Cuba Gooding Jr's. Oscar winning performance. Both men were on top of their game playing off each other. It's sad that his erratic behavior of late has caused harmed to his career because Tom Cruise is a very good actor. So too is Mr. Gooding and Renee Zellwegger, who plays an office worker in Tom Cruise's office and who joined him as he tries to put forth his "mission statement" into practice.

All in all, I think it's a good movie with a very observant script, complimented by great acting.

I refused to see Jerry Maguire for several years, assuming it was a cheap movie about money, sports and sex. When i finally watched it on TV, i was blown away. This movie is about hope, redemption, love, and finding out the meaning of life. Tom Cruise does a spectacular job playing someone with nothing to loose, and Cuba Gooding's performance brought tears to my eyes. Renee Zellweger fits perfectly by having great chemistry with Jerry, and by having a normal, plain look. This film works because it's so real and easily plausible; its a witty, romantic drama more than a romantic comedy that proves its never too late to start over or take a risk.

I just finished watching this movie for the third time and I still love this movie as much as I did after the first time I watched it. Maybe even more! As I already said in the title of my review, only Cameron Crowe can make this kind of movies. Movies about life the way it is and life the way it should be. What I like the most about Crowe's work, is that everything is real. The characters, their emotions, the story,… The whole is absolutely amazing.

Tom Cruise gave an excellent performance as the sports agent with a heart. Someone for who money isn't the most important thing. It's all about the relationship between the sports agent and his client. What's so great about "Jerry Maguire", is the fact that the movie isn't about who Jerry Maguire really is, it's about who he wants to be. I loved Cuba Gooding Jr. By far his greatest role ever. Let's not forget Renée Zellweger and her cute son, amazingly performed by the young Jonathan Lipnicki. Both where very good. Perfect casting for Zellweger.

I read in the trivia that the title role was written for Tom Hanks. Don't get me wrong, Tom Hanks is an excellent actor, but to play an ambitious and arrogant sports manager (what Jerry Maguire was at the beginning of the movie), you need to have Tom Cruise's face. He was just perfect for the role. I can't think of anybody who could have done this as good as he did.

So my conclusion for Jerry Maguire: If you haven't seen it, you should definitely see it. If you have seen it, I hope you can agree with me. This movie is wonderful, as where are used from Cameron Crowe-movies.

9/10

By definition, and depending upon who you're talking to, `Success' can be measured in a number of different ways. It's winning the competition, celebrating a Golden Wedding Anniversary or, to many, just making the most money. The first two are absolutes; you win and you make it to number 50. No gray areas. If you're not dead, you're alive; you're either pregnant or you're not. But in regards to that third item on the list, what are the parameters by which you measure that particular success? Are there lines across which you will not step to make that extra buck? Or do you do whatever it takes-- including selling your soul and sacrificing your very identity-- to make as much of the green as you can. Is that success? Or is that selling out. Can there, in fact, be true success when ethics and integrity are absent? It's the territory writer/director Cameron Crowe explores in `Jerry Maguire,' the hit 1996 film that landed him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, a Best Actor nomination for star Tom Cruise, and captured the award for Best Supporting Actor for Cuba Gooding Jr.

Jerry Maguire (Cruise) is a high-powered sports agent for a huge agency, handling a portfolio filled with high profile sports figures. And the name of Jerry's game is money; he gets the big bucks for those he represents, he keeps them in the limelight and in the end pulls down some mighty big bucks for himself and the firm. But at what price? Who is Jerry Maguire, really? Has he played the chameleon for so long as a means to an end that even he doesn't know who he is anymore? Does he even consider it? If he stopped to think about it, the answer would be a resounding `No.' But then something happens. One night, he wakes up and happens to look at himself in the mirror, and for whatever reason, it suddenly dawns on him what a selfish, soulless, empty life he is leading. So in the wake of this epiphany, he seizes the moment, sits down at his keyboard and hammers out a `mission/morality statement,' in which he reorganizes his entire approach to his career, including reestablishing parameters and setting new priorities making conscience, ethics and integrity his paramount concerns. And while still riding the high of his nocturnal enlightenment, he goes to his office, makes copies of his statement and distributes it to the mailboxes of everyone from his boss on down. Then he goes home and goes to bed.

In the cold light of morning, however, he realizes what he's done and races to his office to avert disaster. Too late. He enters the room to a hail of praise and appreciation from his peers, but his boss is less enthusiastic. It's no surprise to Jerry, then, when the big `M' his superiors are interested in turns out to be `Money' and not `Morality,' as in `Money talks, Jerry walks.' And just like that he's out the door. But before he leaves, he vows to make it on his own. He's up, he's positive, he has his statement-- and he doesn't have a clue what to do next. What he does know is that the adventure of a lifetime is awaiting. And the world is about to meet the `real' Jerry Maguire.

Cameron Crowe made his debut as a writer/director with `Say Anything' in 1989, in which he first exhibited that keen insight into the human condition that has been one of the trademarks of his success as a filmmaker. In `Jerry Maguire' he demonstrates again that acute sense of knowing what makes people tick, and leaves no doubt that he knows how to convey it to his audience. Crowe's story, as well as the presentation, is original and imaginative, and he fills it with real characters involved in very real situations. And it's the characters that really sell it, because these are three-dimensional people, not just cardboard cut-outs, and moreover, Cameron knows how to get the best out of his actors to really bring them to life.

Tom Cruise was the perfect choice to play Jerry; he has the look, the energy and the talent to get inside this guy's skin and make him tick, and he successfully channels his natural exuberance into his character, tempering his performance just enough to make it really work. An Oscar nomination does not come cheaply, and Cruise certainly deserved the one he received for his work here.

Cuba Gooding Jr.'s performance is deserving of the acclaim he received for it, as well. As Rod Tidwell, the pro football player/client who sticks by Jerry and insists that he `Show me the money!' Gooding equals, if not surpasses Cruise's level of enthusiasm with a vibrant and rich portrayal that makes Rod one of his most memorable characters. Like Cruise, Gooding is perfectly cast and points up, again, what an acute sense Cameron has for who and what will work to bring his story so convincingly to the screen.

Not to be outdone by her co-stars, Renee Zellweger gives an endearing performance as the vulnerable but steadfast, single mom, Dorothy Boyd. She's such a `giving' actor, and she endows Dorothy with a gentle, caring manner that expresses her deepest thoughts and feelings so well. Her reaction, in the scene in which Jerry tells Dorothy-- with his back turned to her-- that he has broken up with his fiancee, Avery (Kelly Preston), is priceless, and alone makes this film worth watching (repeatedly). Her work here is every bit as Oscar worthy as Cruise and Gooding's, and it's hard to understand why she was overlooked, as she is such a vital presence in this film. 9/10.

The supporting cast includes Jerry O'Connell (Frank), Jay Mohr (Bob Sugar), Bonnie Hunt (terrific in her role of Laurel Boyd, Dorothy's sister), Regina King (Marcee) and Jonathan Lipnicki, unforgettable as Dorothy's precocious son, Ray. A triumph for Cameron Crowe, this movie is, indeed, magic.