Jerry
Maguire
(1996)
Rated: R
Runtime: 2 Hours and 19 Minutes
Reviewer: Dale
Grade: A+Quick story: it was early 1997, past the time that "Jerry Maguire" had come out, and I was listening to the radio. Suddenly, they started playing the song "Secret Garden" by Bruce Springsteen. So I stopped to listen. I soon noticed that it was the version of the song with the movie lyrics added in, which I found interesting. Before this, I'd had little desire to see the movie. I hadn't disliked the look of it, I just hadn't been particularly moved to see it. By the end of the song, by the combination of Cameron Crowe's beautiful, poetic prose spoken beautifully by the actors and Bruce Springsteen's soulful rendition of the tune, I had tears in my eyes. I rented it the very day that it came out and have loved the film ever since.
But, for some reason, I watched it again tonight. I bought it on DVD yesterday, probably prompted by the fact that I have watched nothing but "Almost Famous" all this past week and wanted more Crowe. I have always loved the movie but tonight, for no apparent reason, the film rubbed me raw all over again. I saw it as though seeing it for the very first time, not in the sense that I experienced some kind of amnesia and had no idea what was going to happen. I knew what was going to happen. It was just that the movie hit me in a more emotional way than it ever has before.
This is as close to perfect as romantic films get. The writing is utterly beyond reproach. There are so many perfectly scripted scenes that I cannot possibly mention them all here. In fact, each scene is perfectly scripted. There is not a line of dialogue that does not work on more than one level. There is not a line of dialogue that is not as wonderful and sweet and poetic as the lyric of a marvelous song.
And the actors invest each line with such remarkable passion and stirring emotion that you cannot help but be sucked in. Tom Cruise is simply a revelation here. I read that this role was originally written with Tom Hanks in mind, but Tom Cruise takes it and makes it so much his own that it is simply impossible to see anyone else doing as well with it: even the esteemed Mr. Gump. Cruise has never been better on film to date, even though he was awesome in "Magnolia". He is brilliant here: somehow managing to convey both the emotional coldness and the odd heart beating in the man. It is a complex and superbly written role and Cruise inhabits it fully. It is amazing. Renee Zellweger is also wonderful. She is truly enchanting here, which again leads me to call her this generation's answer to Audrey Hepburn. She isn't always this great (then again, what was she supposed to do with her thankless role in "Me, Myself and Irene") but when she is in top form, as in this and "Nurse Betty", well, there have rarely been any actresses this enchanting in the history of all film. Yes, I know that is a grand statement. But she is worthy of it. Cuba Gooding Jr. is also quite good here. He did earn his Oscar, if only because he hasn't shown this kind of spunk and talent in any of his other films.
In short, this film is nothing short of miraculous. I have always liked it, and liked it a lot, but there is something about this movie that I have just now realized. What it is, I'm not sure, but
I do have a theory: Soul. It is an uncompromising movie about principles and loyalty and the true nature of Love. We have seen a lot of love stories, but we rarely see one that tries to get to the true bottom of what love really is the way that this one does. Someday, I wish I love a woman enough to pour my heart out to her as Tom does to Renee at the end of this movie. I someday wish to meet a woman that I cannot live without who, in turn, cannot live without me.
Until then, I can simply watch "Jerry Maguire", cry my eyes out, and dream.
Reviewer: Jones
Grade: A+
I throw the term “God” around a lot. You want examples? I’ve got them. Clint Eastwood IS God. Not a God mind you, but rather God himself. It works in the music industry as well.
Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of the bands Tool and A Perfect Circle, is, in fact, God. There are a number of other variations on this concept, but these are the two most prominent in my mind. As you can see, I throw the term around with relative ease. A term I do not throw around with relative ease is “Love”.
It takes a lot for me to love something. This is especially apparent in the realm of film. There are many films that I enjoy, as well as many that I consider great, but there are few that I would say are deserving of my unconditional love. Films I would consider great would be the likes of “Apocalypse Now”, “The Bridge On The River Kwai” and “Paths Of Glory”, but they don’t have that element, incapable of definition, that makes them worthy of my love.
Films I love include “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly”, “Used Cars” and “Once Upon a Time in the West”. These are films that hold a special place in my heart that will never be relinquished. They have that element that the great films I mentioned before lack. The films I love are the films I feel I could not live without. "Jerry Maguire” is a film that I could not see myself living without.
“Jerry Maguire” is a film about a sports agent (Tom Cruise) who bears the name of the title character. He is at the top of his game. He has the world by the balls. Then, one night, he has a run in with the son of an injured client and he proceeds to grow a conscience. This newfound conscience leads him to write up a mission statement for his employer. This would be all fine and good, except for the fact that what he writes goes against everything that a capitalist enterprise, such as one that represents athletes, stands for. He is given the boot and decides to form his own agency. As he leaves his former office he manages to procure the services of a young lady from accounting named Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger) for his new enterprise.
Things are pretty bad for Jerry. His only client, Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.), is a loudmouth with a bad attitude, who thinks everybody’s against him. He has decided to break things off with his sex-crazed, talkaholic fiancée, but not before she gets the last shot in. After the breakup things inevitably heat up between Jerry and Dorothy whose passion for one another is based on altogether different reasons for the two of them. These reasons lead to a string of events between the two of them and revelations that would not have seen possible at the film’s outset.
This film is nothing short of brilliant. It is brilliant, because of a continuous stream of memorable moments. The best of which are the sort that will still be repeated twenty years from now just as often as they are to day. The scenes I speak of are the “You complete me” scene, which is set up brilliantly by an exchange in an elevator early in the movie and the “Show me the money” scene, which is the sort of thing legends are made of. The scenes mentioned would not be what they are without the talents of Cameron Crowe, Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, and Cuba Gooding Jr. to bring them to life.
Cameron Crowe ("Almost Famous") is rapidly becoming one of the film industry’s finest talents. Oh, who am I kidding. He IS one of the film industry’s finest talents. There is something about Crowe’s films that no others have. They have this sweet, wholesome, down-to-earth quality about them that makes them a joy to behold. His characters are the sort of people that I could see myself bumping into on any given day. They really shouldn’t even be described as characters, because they take on the qualities of everyday people. Jerry Maguire is one of these people and he is brought to undeniable life by Tom Cruise.
Cruise gives one of his finest performances in the role of the title character. The only time he has been better was in “Magnolia”, but the gap between that performance and this one is miniscule. I have felt, for some time now, that Tom is one of the film industry’s most underrated performers. He is often dismissed as a pretty boy and nothing more. This is unfair and without explanation. With performances such as that of Jerry Maguire he proves without a shadow of a doubt that he is the real deal and is a force to be reckoned with in the motion picture industry. He runs through the entire emotional spectrum in this film. He is on top of the world. He is broken down to a shell of his former self. He is reduced to tears in one of the most heart wrenching scenes I have ever seen. He is all of these things, but most of all he is Jerry Maguire.
We sure have been seeing a lot of Renee Zellweger (“Nurse Betty”) lately and rightfully so, for she is a very talented young actress. We may never have gotten to see so much of her had it not been for her performance as Dorothy Boyd. This is the role that made her a household name. This is the first time that we got to see what innocence looks like when a face is put to it. She is the sort of girl that you would want to bring home to introduce to mom. She defines the terms wholesome and sweetness better than any dictionary ever could. That is a big part of why this movie works. Without her everything falls apart. The film hinges on her performance and she delivers in spades.
This brings us to Cuba. I never thought much of Cuba before seeing this movie. Quite honestly, I thought he was crap. Then I saw him in this Academy Award winning performance and it changed everything. He plays the prick with a heart that is Rod Tidwell with pinpoint accuracy. He seems like a pretty shallow person when we first meet him, but as we get to know him we find that he is a man driven to be the way he is by very noble reasons. Now, rather than disliking Cuba, I quite like him. I find myself more frustrated by his lack of quality roles of late. “Instinct”? I’m trying not to laugh. “Men Of Honor”? I can’t help but laugh at that one. Cuba, you can do better. So why don’t you start already?
I spoke of “Gods” and “Love” at the start of this review. To me they are two very different animals, as I explained earlier. “Jerry Maguire” is a film of greatness and perhaps even godliness. That I can’t say for sure. I can be certain of one thing, however.
I love this movie.