Jerry Maguire (1996)

Director:

Cameron Crowe

Writer (WGA):

Cameron Crowe (written by)

Release Date:

13 December 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

Everybody loved him... Everybody disappeared.

Plot:

When a sports agent has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent with the only athlete who stays with him.

Plot Keywords:

Sports Agent | Client | Agent | Football | Football Player

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 21 wins & 18 nominations

Cast

Tom Cruise	...	Jerry Maguire
Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Rod Tidwell
Renée Zellweger	...	Dorothy Boyd (as Renee Zellweger)
Kelly Preston	...	Avery Bishop
Jerry O'Connell	...	Frank Cushman
Jay Mohr	...	Bob Sugar
Bonnie Hunt	...	Laurel Boyd
Regina King	...	Marcee Tidwell
Jonathan Lipnicki	...	Ray Boyd
Todd Louiso	...	Chad the Nanny
Mark Pellington	...	Bill Dooler
Jeremy Suarez	...	Tyson Tidwell
Jared Jussim	...	Dicky Fox
Benjamin Kimball Smith	...	Keith Cushman
Ingrid Beer	...	Anne-Louise

MPAA:

Rated R for language and sexuality.

Runtime:

139 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | American Sign Language

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby | DTS-Stereo

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | France:Unrated | Iceland:L | USA:R (certificate #34799) | Singapore:M18 (DVD rating) | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Austria:6 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Germany:6 | Netherlands:AL | Norway:11 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Spain:7 | Sweden:7 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

John Wayne Airport - 18601 Airport Way, Santa Ana, California, USA

Company:

Gracie Films

Trivia:

The parts of Dorothy and Jerry were originally written for Winona Ryder and Tom Hanks. Hanks was unable to commit to the project due to his work on That Thing You Do! (1996). Ryder was able to commit, but when screen tests were done with Tom Cruise, they "looked like brother and sister" when standing together.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Jerry and Rod are in the airport, the amount of beer in the bottle is completely inconsistent with the amount already poured into Rod's glass.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jerry Maguire: So this is the world, and there are almost six billion people on it. When I was a kid, there were three. It's hard to keep up.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Girls Next Door: Catcher in the Raw (#5.10)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

I'll Be You

Agent Seeks Something Higher -- Possibly Cruise's Best Film

At the 1997 Academy Awards, host Billy Crystal referred to the characters played by the five Best Actor nominees (of which Tom Cruise was one) as being "a burned guy, a mentally-challenged guy, a mentally-abused guy, a paralyzed guy, and an agent. And four out of the five are treatable." Of course Crystal was jokingly referring to the Agent as being beyond help. Among the figures of sports and entertainment, agents are often regarded as the necessary evil of the industry often with reputations as being the sleaziest of VIP's, just-above used car salesmen. Their antics which require a high-level of tough negotiations are sometimes seen as money-gouging and materialistic. In the film "Jerry Maguire", Tom Cruise decides to wear the shoes of a sports agent and walk around in them for just over two hours.

"Who am I? What am I doing? Where am I going?" We often think of these questions as being asked by the adolescent. But Jerry Maguire, the savvy sports agent in his mid-30's, ends up asking the same questions. And his answer is inspiring, transcendent, and detrimental. He mistakenly writes down his inspired thoughts and submits them to his colleagues of his sports agency. For his inspiration, he loses his place at his agency and many of his highest-paying clients to his rival Bob Sugar. Subsequently, he also loses his attractive but shallow fiancé. Maguire is forced to try and live his dream of being more caring and receptive towards the needs of his clients rather than just being there to get a slice of his athlete/clients' multi-million-dollar paychecks. And he must do it starting from the ground up with only a single client who agrees to retain Maguire.

So the question asked of the movie is: Can a sports agent find a more meaningful, possibly spiritual, life and still acquire the high-paying clientèle? And maybe even more to the point, can an agent make a difference beyond just being a high-powered money negotiator? "Jerry Maguire" is a thoroughly entertaining riches-to-rags-to-transcendence story of a fantasy sports agent trying to find a deeper purpose to an otherwise materialistic existence.

The film works at almost all levels, particularly because of the dynamism of Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr. in an Academy Award-winning performance, playing the only client willing to stay with Maguire. Part of the story is Maguire's journey from the purely material to a deeper and more-satisfying existence. Rod Tidwell (Gooding), wide receiver for the Cardinals, is a strange opposite to Cruise but has a similar problem. Tidwell is a devoted father and husband, emotionally involved with his family but does not quite give that same heart on the football field. The story becomes about both characters finding something deeper in their place in the world, Gooding giving what he gives to his family to his team, and Cruise giving to his clients and co-worker/lover Dorothy Boyd his love and attention. Renee Zellweger plays Dorothy Boyd in a passionate and sensitive performance that will definitely bring tears. Zellweger's son becomes an important character and also an inspiration to Cruise to find the deeper and more sensitive part of himself.

In the materialistic world of late 20th-century America, "Jerry Maguire" is a breath of fresh air. A rare story produced by the materialistic studios about the dangers of losing oneself for the sake of materialism. An interesting statistic has emerged of late regarding a high number of American businessmen on their deathbeds who begin regretting the direction and purpose of their lives. "Jerry Maguire" offers an alternative, although probably few in his position would find the wisdom to change course. But since you can't take it with you, life is about what you leave behind.