Jerry Maguire (1996)

Much as i’ve grown to dislike Tom Cruise over the past few years due to his ridiculous rants on television and his generally odd behaviour, it’s impossible to deny that he’s made some good movies. There’s the powerful A Few Good Men, and the moving Born on the Fourth of July, but Jerry Maguire is undoubtedly my favourite of his films. It may be considered sentimental by some viewers because it argues ‘love before money’, but nevertheless, it is a heart-warming movie that doesn’t disappoint from start to finish. It has an incredible soundtrack, a great plot, excellent performances and a wonderfully underplayed happy ending.

Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) is a successful sports agent who works for SMI – one of the biggest sports management companies around. He seems to have everything he could desire, as he’s engaged to a beautiful woman and he’s extremely successful at his job. He has a crisis of conscience though, as he realises that in SMI’s bid to make money, many important things have been forgotten about. Employees are dishonest, over-charging, and turning a blind eye to the improper behaviour of some of their clients. For example, in the opening scenes, Jerry Maguire can be heard defending a sportperson accused of sleeping with a fifteen year old girl, by saying: ‘There’s no proof of anything except this guy is a sensational athlete.’ In a remorseful mood one evening, Maguire spontaneously writes a mission statement for all of his colleagues about what’s going wrong in their company and how things should be changed. He recommends fewer clients and more emphasis on customer care. Although he’s greeted with rounds of applause when he comes to work the next day, his controversial views do not fit in with the capitalist firm that he works for, and he’s subsequently fired.

Things go from bad to worse for Jerry Maguire after leaving the company. He has a nasty break up with his fiancee. He loses his biggest money making client to his old firm and is left with just the one client, Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr). Rod is a football player who has an attitude problem that means he doesn’t play as well as he could do, and is unlikely to earn Jerry much money.

The film revolves around the growth of Jerry Maguire’s character and his relationships. He develops an extremely close friendship with Rod Tidwell. The two of them bounce off eachother, metaphorically speaking. Jerry’s honesty with Rod about where he is going wrong in sport has a positive effect on Rod’s football playing, and Rod’s close family and loving relationship with his wife makes Jerry take a good long look at his own personal life. Jerry’s relationship with Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger) is also important as it provides the romance in the film. Dorothy Boyd was inspired by Maguires mission statement and looks up to him, but Maguire seems more taken with her son Ray (Jonathon Lipnicki). She has to do all the chasing and it’s extremely clear that his feelings do not match hers.

Although a film that’s essentally a romantic comedy is never really going to be considered an all time great, I do personally view Jerry Maguire as a classic. It entertains the entire way through and there’s no scene that seems tiresome or unnecessary. What’s great about this film is that no matter how many times you watch it, it’s always just as good as the first time. Also, the film’s end, involving the famous line “You had me at Hello”, never fails to bring a tear to the eye, in my case anyway.

Starring: Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, Cuba Gooding Jr

Dir: Cameron Crowe

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