Day 58 - Jerry Maguire


Day 58              Jerry Maguire [1996]
                          
Screenplay                    Cameron Crowe
Director                         Cameron Crowe
Cinematography             Janusz Kamiński
Music                            Nancy Wilson & Danny Bramson
Leads                            Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger
Production                     Gracie Films, Vinyl Films

IMDb                               7.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes                83%


Having watched Risky Business (Day 8), Vanilla Sky (Day 14) and American Made (Day 47) I thought I’d continue my journey through Tom Cruise’s career and watch Jerry Maguire. In between watching the film and writing this I read up a bit about it and discovered that it performed well at the Golden Globes and Academy Awards. It surprised me a little bit as I didn’t think there was anything particularly special about this film. However, I can’t be totally critical as I did find myself getting emotional towards the end, but I think that’s partly to do with the sportsman in me. Jerry Maguire (Cruise) is a successful sports agent who one day has an epiphany about the business he is in, realising it to be incredibly personal and yet heartless industry. Everyone is simply obsessed by money, and no-one takes into account health or family. Maguire writes a mission statement to the company about a more personal way of doing business and it gets him fired. Dorothy (Zellweger), an accountant at the same sports agency, is inspired by the statement and leaves with Jerry to start their own company. The only issue for them is that Jerry only has one client left – Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell (Gooding, Jr.). Dorothy and Jerry also start a relationship, especially as Dorothy sees Jerry being so good with her young son. I won’t spoil the rest of the plot, but it’s a ‘happily-ever-after’ one that is fairly easy to predict. Zellweger, Cruise and Gooding, Jr. are all good in it. Gooding, Jr. especially brings zest to the otherwise standard Rom-Com. It’s ok, but I preferred young Tom Cruise in Risky Business and old Tom Cruise in American Made.

Acting                          3 / 4
Writing                      2.5 / 4
Cinematography           2 / 4
Music                        2.5 / 4

HMD rating           2.5 / 4