Hollywood is industry built on illusion. Its products aren't meant to resemble real life, even when they are supposed to. Despite that, Hollywood's habit of disregarding reality can be annoying at times, especially in genres that are somewhat closer to the worlds viewers inhabit. One of those genres is romantic comedy, today so despised because of Hollywood's inability to populate them with real people and real issues. So, when one such romantic comedy does resemble real life, it is exceptional film indeed. All that could be said for Jerry Maguire, 1996 film written and directed by Cameron Crowe.
Protagonist of the film is Jerry Maguire (played by Tom Cruise), professional sports agent who stops at nothing to get his job done. Results of his efforts are there - successful career, legion of lucrative clients and sexy girlfriend Avery Bishop (played by Kelly Preston). One night everything changes when he decides to write company memo claiming that his agency should concentrate on their clients' well-being instead of simply grabbing money. Memo is well-written and receives applauses in the office, but at the end of the line company management isn't that impressed - Jerry is fired and Dorothy Boyd (played by Renee Zellweger) is the only employee who would quit and follow him when he sets up his own agency. That brave decision proves to be huge mistake - relationship with Avery falls apart and all of his clients are leaving him, except egomaniacal football player Rod Tidwell (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.). In the meantime, Dorothy, who must support his young son Ray (played by Jonathan Lipnicki) discovers that he has certain feelings for her new boss.
Jerry Maguire doesn't have much of a plot, and the satirical take on the professional sports industry and its treatment of athletes as commodity is just a good opportunity for Cameron Crowe to create two wonderful and complementary character studies. On one hand is Jerry, man who discovers that he had invested too much of his passion into work at the expense of his private life and emotional happiness. On the other hand, Rod Tidwell is so obsessed with his family and desire to provide for them that he stopped enjoying what he did best - the game of American football. Those two processes happen in the same time and it took great skill to weave them into coherent script. All that wouldn't have worked without Crowe having some fine acting talent at his disposal. Tom Cruise made Jerry Maguire into one of the best roles of his career, and the emotional rollercoaster that Jerry had to go through required truly impressive acting skills. Cruise didn't receive Oscar for his role, but his partner Cuba Gooding Jr. did and deservedly so - his portrayal of egomaniacal athlete is reminder that even some of seemingly arrogant people can hide some reeeming human qualities within themselves. Gooding in many ways overshadowed Cruise, and that almost happened with Renee Zellweger in one of her first major roles. Zellweger is very good here, but, thanks to some romantic cliches this film probably couldn't have avoided, her role isn't in Cruise's and Gooding's category. Bonnie Hunt leaves much better impression in brief but memorable role of her cynical sister.
The greatest quality of Jerry Maguire is its realism in portrayal of everyday life - world of sports agents industry isn't some kind of Hollywood fairytale where Good Guys can afford to be at the top of their game and remain faithful to some noble ideals. In capitalism, stripped to its competitive essence, the only way to measure someone's worth is his wealth and success; once deprived of it, individual can quickly see how loyalty and respect become meaningless words. Jerry Maguire showed this process brilliantly in the first part of the film. Second part, which shows the healing process, is somewhat less successful, mostly due to Hollywood cliches, including usual dramatic final game any film with sport subplots can't exist without. Yet, Jerry Maguire compensates that by presenting realistic but likeable characters, and when they finally discover some inner goodness and better qualities, this process, unlike in many Hollywood films, feels genuine and leaves audience with smile on their faces. This legacy of Jerry Maguire is more important and more lasting than any golden statues would indicate.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on October 29th 2003)
==
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax
Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc
Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA
Brave browser: https://brave.com/dra011
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7