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Jerry Maguire Customer Reviews (25 - 27 of 52 Reviews)

Effective, Emotional, and Entertaining
JERRY MAGUIRE is one of those films that I enjoy, even though I know I shouldn't. Why not, you ask? Well, it has a bit of a hopelessly optimistic viewpoint, it wormed its way into our vocabulary, and, overall, it's a bit too sugary. But for some reason I continue to be affected by it whenever I watch it. It is the believable story of a man who wakes up during the course of his life, has a revelation, and then refuses to accept the consequences of that revelation until the end of the film. I love the fact that Tom Cruise fails to change overnight, that he is more complex than that. And while I'm on the subject, I normally don't hand out a lot of praise to Tom Cruise, but this is another excellent performance of late. Having just seen COLLATERAL, I am beginning to wonder why he has always been overlooked as nothing more than a heartthrob. His performance in JERRY MAGUIRE is quite moving and he was perfectly cast.

Ultimately, I like JERRY MAGUIRE because its main character stumbles throughout the entire course of the film. Just when you think the sugar-coated lenses are about to come down on the film (and it happens a lot), Cameron Crowe throws a wrench in the gears and things come crashing back down around Cruise's character. Like many of Crowe's films, it is a film that dabbles in several genres (romantic love-story, comedy, drama) and ends up something quite different, but altogether entertaining. I highly recommend it.

Crowe on Cruise Control in Clever Character-Driven Comedy
I am not a Tom Cruise fan, but even with that hurdle, this is still a smart and sassy comedy from 1996 well worth savoring thanks to director-writer Cameron Crowe. Regardless of my reservations about Cruise, he is ideally cast in the title role, an egocentric and mega-successful sports agent, who gets to hang out with celebrity athletes within a lifestyle that seems to epitomize the Peter Pan syndrome. That is, until Jerry reaches an epiphany about the excesses of his business and after crafting a poorly received "mission statement", is given the boot. Followed only by the naïve accountant Dorothy Boyd, he starts a new management company, and due to the machinations of a slimy fellow agent at his now-former company, Jerry is left with just one athlete to represent, the self-absorbed, second-tier football player Rod Tidwell.

From this premise comes a lightweight though insightful character study of people who are not able to be themselves among others and cannot seem to find what they want without the help of someone else telling them what they want. It appears Jerry's initial epiphany is more hard-earned than he expected, and the movie spends most of its running time exploring how he comes to realize its meaning in his life. What is great about the movie is the incisive, thoughtful dialogue peppered with nineties catchphrases that seem to live on eternally..."Show me the money!"..."You had me at hello"..."I love the man he wants to be"..."Help me help you"...and one of the best compliments I've heard though odd coming out of Cruise's mouth: "That's not a dress. That's an Audrey Hepburn movie." There is a human scale to all the dilemmas in the movie which I find enveloping in unexpected ways, and characters you think you will loathe (including Cruise's) surprise you. Everything revolves tightly around the small triumphs and failures, and within the intimacy defined by Crowe, the humor and pain of the characters' lives seems authentic and often funny. And the humor is constant and more of the relatable recognition variety than laugh-out-loud silliness.

Of course, it helps to have a great cast, and the movie benefits from one beginning with what I still feel is Cruise's career-best performance. Not a hugely versatile actor though dedicated, he portrays a character that fits the odd contours of his movie personality...brash, ambitious, emotionally frustrated, frat-house mindset evolving toward begrudging maturity. Beating out the likes of Parker Posey and Mira Sorvino for the role of Dorothy, relative newcomer Renée Zellweger portrays this epiphany-seeking single mother with her unique sensibilities and squeaky-voiced defiance. They have a genuine chemistry that I hope they repeat sometime soon. Playing Tidwell looks to be Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s career high-water mark, as he has not done anything remotely as interesting since then. He is flashy, funny, even cockier than McGuire and a believably devoted husband and father. Regina King expertly plays his sassy, negotiation-driving wife Marcee. My favorite scenes may be between Dorothy and her sister Laurel, played in typically witty fashion by Bonnie Hunt. Even the requisite "cute kid", Jonathan Lipnicki, is funny without being overly precious. Truth be told, a couple of the ancillary characters don't work as well - Todd Luiso as Chad the Nanny, a slacker, and Kelly Preston as Jerry's high maintenance über-bitch fiancée. But these are minor flaws. Everything gets wrapped up perfectly, as you would suspect, but the journey there is unpredictable and wonderfully poignant. Highly recommended.

If anything, the most quoted movie of the 1990s...
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), and nominated for five additional Oscars including Best Picture, Jerry Maguire burst onto the cinema landscape in late 1996, and it's famous tagline "Show me the money!" took the pop culture by storm (you still hear it used today). Tom Cruise provides one of the best performances of his career, and Renee Zellweger became a household name after her supporting role as Dorothy Boyd. Overall, Jerry Maguire is a fun, romantic comedy about an idealistic career man who finds a way to live his life differently...

Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) is a sports agent extraordinaire with one of the largest sports agent conglomerates in the world. But when one of his clients becomes injured, Jerry is forced to rethink the purpose of his career and his life. The result is a new and idealistic corporate mission statement flatly rejected by his colleagues. With the people around him unwilling to change, Jerry Maguire quits and strikes out on his own. He attempts to energize more people to follow him to the new company he's going to create, but only one employee bites - office secretary Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger) who is secretly in love with Jerry. (This is a very humorous scene where Jerry Maguire goes off the deep end).

When he quits, Jerry hopes to retain a number of his high profile clients, but they all bail on him - all except one, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding, Jr.). Tidwell is an egomaniacal, sub-par receiver in the final year of his current contract. Desperate, Maguire pleads over the phone with Tidwell, hoping the man with retain his services. This scene spawns the famous line "Show me the money!" which Tidwell forces Maguire to say over and over...

As Maguire and Dorothy Boyd struggle to hold the new business together, their relationship grows into a romantic one, which in the end results in another famous line from the film. Will their relationship hold up under the pressures of the new enterprise? Will Tidwell's career pay off for his family and the new Jerry Maguire agency? It's a lot of fun finding out...

One of the surprise films of 1996, Jerry Maguire is that rare film that appeals to both women for its romance, men for its sports themed plot, and the Academy Awards for its memorable performances and ingenious portrayal of strong interpersonal conflicts. A great number of mid-1990's sports figures make cameos throughout the film, lending credibility to the setting and believability to Tidwell's character. There's a reason this film won so many awards and raked in widespread critical acclaim. It simply appeals to large audience on many different levels. That's why Jerry Maguire is a definite must-see film. If you haven't seen it yet, this is a great one to rent one night and relax to...

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