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.
