In “Jerry Maguire,” Tom Cruise plays slick sports agent, Jerry Maguire. Maguire starts his own business with single mother, Dorothy Boyd (played by Renee Zellweger) after losing his job.
The classic has plenty of charming performances and delightful moments. One comes when Dorothy stands up in the office after Jerry leaves. She agrees to follow him out of the company to start his new business with him. The other comes when she tells her sister that she truly loves Jerry with all her heart.
Both of these scenes are courtesy of actress Renee Zellweger. Her performance is one of the key aspects of the movie. Her performance provokes a shift in tone in a movie that starts off cynical and quickly shifts to heartwarming.
Plot
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The movie follows Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise), a big-time pro sports agent who has so many clients, he finds himself indifferent to most of them. He spends most of his time on the road, visiting his sea of clients. One night, he has a panic attack in a hotel room after hearing criticism from an injured player’s son. The attack causes him to write a mission statement titled “The Things We Think and Do Not Say: The Future of Our Business.” He expresses his belief that agents should be less concerned about money and more concerned about their clients. This statement initially gets him a standing ovation in the office. However, a few days later, following his firing, he realizes why agents do not express their own opinions.
Maguire stages a grand exit, announcing that he will start his own agency and asks if anyone will join him. When he asks this, only Dorothy, an accountant at the company, stands up and says she believes in him. Dorothy is a 26-year-old widow with a son.
Dorothy also has an outspoken older sister, played by Bonnie Hunt, who she lives with. They live in a house where the living room is constantly filled with a self-help group for divorced women. They spend a majority of their time talking about men.
Only one client sticks with Maguire when the agency boots him out. That’s Rod Tidwell (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.), a wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals, who dislikes the waterbed commercials Maguire has him participate in. Despite the ridiculous commercials, Rod sticks with him and Dorothy. Rod’s wife Marcee (Regina King) is her husband’s biggest defender and their marriage is stable and pure. This is a major contrast to Maguire’s current relationship and failing engagement with the distant Avery Bishop (played by Kelly Preston).
Once Avery is out of the picture, Jerry begins to get closer with Dorothy’s son, Ray. As Dorothy and Jerry get closer, they eventually begin a relationship. Under the influence of his newfound feelings, Jerry advises Rod to play with his heart and not just with his mind. Jerry and Rod begin to grow a closer personal relationship. While his personal relationship with Rod grows, his romantic relationship with Dorothy struggles and the two separate.
The biggest moment in Rod and Jerry’s relationship comes when Rod sustains a scary injury during a game but gets up to a cheering crowd. After his recovery, Jerry and Rod embrace in front of the media, proving Jerry’s point from his mission statement at the beginning of the movie–that the agent’s personal relationship with the athlete is more important than the money they receive.
Performances
The film is pleasant and entertaining, specifically when Cruise and Zellweger are together on the screen. Cruise plays Maguire with the sincerity of a man who wants to find greatness and genuine happiness in an occupation where success and money are really emphasized. Zellweger does a great job at bringing emotion to the film. She plays a woman who firmly believes in the guy she loves. The actual sports scenes are relatively predictable (right down to and including the big play that settles the season). However, Cuba Gooding Jr. does a fantastic job in his role as Tidwell. Gooding Jr. earned an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and it was well-deserved. He delivers the iconic line “show me the money!”, which would go on to become a national catchphrase.
The Film’s Message
The movie is more than just a great rom-com. It is a story of the transformation of two men who learn how to value something more than money, and about two women who always knew. Maguire and Tidwell both learn there is more to life than just money and success in a competitive business. The movie also teaches us the importance of adaptability. Maguire faces plenty of challenges and setbacks that he is only able to overcome by taking risks and adapting to a new approach. Although the movie begins with a cynical tone, it quickly shifts to a heartwarming love story about transformation and adaptability.
My Opinion
The film is mainly carried by Zellweger, Cruise, and Gooding Jr’s brilliant performances. However, Cameron Crowe’s direction and screenwriting also deserves high praise as well. He did a great job at showcasing a character like Jerry Maguire, who appears larger than life, but is also very relatable in many ways. He makes it easy to believe that Maguire, who was once a major superstar as a sports agent, would move into the suburbs to become a stepdad.
Overall, this is a great, critically acclaimed film and for good reason. It has a thought-provoking message with amazing emotional scenes that don’t set back the comedic aspect of the movie. “Jerry Maguire” is a charming love story that will leave you plenty satisfied.
