Jerry Maguire
The day of the Academy Awards telebroadcast, I saw the fifth and final Best Picture nominee. I was very skeptical about it even being among the rest of the Independent films nominated, but I decided to give it a chance. Two and a half hours before the Oscar telecast, I went to the theaters and saw this film. I got out of the theater five minutes before the awards started. And I was exhilarated. I realized that Jerry Maguire deserved its spot, and it should have been Secrets and Lies replaced by some other film (my choice was Evita).
Jerry Maguire is a very good film and it includes many different elements for everyone to enjoy. Unfortunately, I knew that Jerry Maguire wasn't going to win Best Picture because not only was it up against fierce competition, but the director, Cameron Crowe, was not nominated. The Best Picture award almost always goes along with the Best Director award. And I have come to realize that whatever film wins the Best Film Editing award, wins the Best Picture award (so I was disappointed very early when The English Patient won that one).
But with all that aside, Jerry Maguire is one of the best romantic comedies I have seen in a long time. But not only is it a romantic comedy, it's also a sports film. It mixes the two elements that both men and women like (sports for men and romance for women) to form a film that almost everyone will enjoy. However, what this film is really for is a vehicle or the two actors in it: Cuba Gooding Jr. and Tom Cruise. Gooding won the Best Supporting Actor for his performance, but Cruise was snubbed by not even being nominated. This snub is almost a slap in Cruise's face because he has turned in so many wonderful performances that he deserves some sort of recognition.
Ironically, though the two male actors are top-billed, it is the main actress who steals the film. Most people will disagree and say Gooding stole it, but Renee Zellweger underplays her role and it makes it much more meaningful and powerful. Zellweger, whom I don't remember ever seeing in a film before, dominates all her scenes with anyone, especially Cruise. My two favorite lines from the film (and one isn't "Show me the money") both come from Zellweger. The first is at the beginning of the film where she overhears Maguire telling a woman about his proposal to his fiancee, and she comments, "Not only is first class a better way to travel, it's a better life." This statement is ironic because Maguire doesn't think so. Her second line is close to the end of the film, and she says one of the most famous lines from the film: "You had me at hello."
Tom Cruise, of course, plays Jerry Maguire, a stressed-out sports agent for a top agency. He represents so many clients that he can't handle all the pressure being put on him from all his clients. One night, Maguire writes a mission statement entitled "The Things We Think and Do Not Say: The Future of Our Business" and sends it to everyone in his agency. He arrives the next day and receives a standing ovation from his co-workers. A few days later, he is fired. Suddenly, Maguire's world collapses around him as he races to save the accounts of his clients. Unfortunately, Bob Sugar (Jay Mohr), one of the company owners, begins calling all of Maguire's clients and getting them to sign on with the agency and not with Maguire. He manages to save one of his clients in a scene involving the most overused phrase in history. His client is Rod Tidwell (Gooding), a wide receiver playing for Arizona and getting a paycheck not even large enough to fix his house up from leaking.
I sensed the film going off into another predictable sports film, and it did, but it also had another plot running alongside it which was much more interesting. As Maguire leaves the agency forever, he asks anyone if they would like to come with and start their own business. Only one accepts: Dorothy Boyd (Zellweger), because she believes in Maguire... oh, and she loves him which doesn't hurt. The relationship that soon begins between Maguire and Boyd is very nice, and yet I was faced with the reality that this relationship would soon deteriorate. I didn't want it to happen, but it did and I was slightly disappointed. Perhaps I cared for Maguire and Boyd so much that I could see how much Boyd was disappointed when her love is ripped away by his career. This career almost made me care less about the sports subplot, but Tidwell, with his high energy and enthusiasm, saves the sports part of the film.
This film boasts four major performances, and two are very underrated. Cruise, of course, has the major load of the film because he is in every part of the film (hey, the film is named after his character). And he handles the role terrificly. Unfortunately, I found his role a little depressing. Gooding, on the other hand, always made me smile as he bounced around in his scenes. He had such a high energy that we were able to overlook the cliched character. Zellweger, as I have said before, steals every scene she is in. Her performance is probably the most underrated and also the most sincere. The fourth actor isn't the kid, as most people think, but the sister, played by Bonnie Hunt. She is always fun to watch on screen, and her cynicism is perfect for the contrasting sister characters. Oh yeah, the kid is cute (and 14 years old!).
Jerry Maguire is rated R for language and sexuality. Director/writer Cameron Crowe has been able to do what most filmmakers only dream of. He created a film that appeals to both sexes and also made a lot of money at the box office. To top it all off, he got an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. While it may seem that the film is packed full of many different things going on at one time, it is in my opinion that Crowe made it that way to show the stressful life of Jerry Maguire. I was almost overwhelmed by the many, many thing happening, but then again, so was Maguire. And I think that was Crowe's main purpose: to show us what a day in the life of a sports agent is like... or rather, several days.