30 Years Later, Jerry is still maguiring pretty fucking hard
When they say they don't make 'em like this anymore, they mean films like “Jerry Maguire.” The film, on its surface, is about morally kicked sports agent Maguire (Cruise) who hits his breaking point. When he sends a memo to the rest of his agency asking for more personal touch in the business (and less money), he is promptly fired, left to fend for himself alongside loyal accountant Dorothy (Zellweger) and Cards WR Rod Tidwell (Gooding Jr.).
Jerry Maguire isn’t a movie about sports agenting or unbreakable love. It’s about why we wake up in the morning. Cruise, within the first ten minutes of action, decides that he can no longer wake up for an impersonal position that caters more to fakery and manipulation than human relationships. Instead of welcoming his idea, his agency swiftly cans him.
Viewers should be engulfed enough with the magnetism of Senior Scientology, but he isn’t the only one summoning their best stuff. This is like 2017 Warriors shit (Remember - KD, Steph, Klay, and Dray all were between 25 and 28 when that group was together). We’ve got Renee Zellwegler, Cuba Gooding Jr., Cameron Crowe, hell even Jay Mohr; they’re all going fucking bananas. Zellweger, in a breakout role of the hall of fame variety, brings sincerity to a movie that hinges on that. She makes the film's premise believable, and she becomes Cruise’s best love interest since - checking my notes - ever.
Following this film, Tom Cruise took a looong break from the spotlight, though not necessarily by choice. Stanley Kubrick locked him up and forced him into the most fucked up marriage counseling known to man, and then, poof, this Cruise is gone (to say nothing of the couch). From that point on, it was safe, calculated picks. Mission Impossibles, mostly. And sure, Cruise still maintains a steady diet of movie-stardom through those flicks. However, it’s nothing compared to the type of vulnerability and likability he is able to muster here. This should have been his oscar, plain and simple.
Plenty of sports films have tried to incorporate a romance this iconic. Plenty of romances have tried to incorporate drama this compelling. Few succeed. This movie is so good playing at both that you almost forget that Tidwell supposedly had 110 catches for 1500 yards the previous season and couldn’t get above a million a year in salary.
