Jerry Maguire (1996)

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.

Director:

Cameron Crowe

Writer:

Cameron Crowe

Stars:

Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger

Won 1 Oscar. Another 25 wins & 19 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) is a successful sports agent. The biggest clients, the respect, a beautiful fiancée, he has it all. Until one night he questions his purpose. His place in the world, and finally comes to terms with what's wrong with his career and life. Recording all his thoughts in a mission statement Jerry feels he has a new lease on life. Unfortunately his opinions aren't met with enthusiasm from his superiors and after dishonorably being stripped of his high earning clients and elite status within the agency Jerry steps out into the sports business armed with only one volatile client (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and the only person with belief in his abilities (Renée Zellweger) with the impossible task of rebuilding what he once had. Along the way he faces the harsh truths which he'd ignored in the past and a host of hardships that he'd never faced before.

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Plot Keywords:

client | sports agent | agent | career | mission statement | 

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Taglines:

Everybody loved him... Everybody disappeared.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sexuality

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English American Sign Language

Release Date:

13 December 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jerry Maguire - Spiel des Lebens

Filming Locations:

527 23rd St, Manhattan Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

ITL 1,988,783,000 (Italy) (7 March 1997)

Gross:

$153,620,822 (USA) (4 July 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

TriStar Pictures, Gracie Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

139 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby DTS-Stereo Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Alec Baldwin, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn and Bruce Willis were all considered for the lead role.

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Goofs

The beginning of the game shows Dave Krieg 17 of the Cards and Troy Aikman of the Cowboys warming up for an actual game Dec 25 '95 in Arizona. Later the game is shown with Stanbeck playing as 17 for the Cards wearing visiting team colors and it appears the game is now obviously staged with actors for some of the play action in the wrong color uniforms. They do flip back and forth on visiting team and home team colors.

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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.

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Connections

Referenced in Shattered Glass (2003)

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Soundtracks

"Secret Garden"
Written and Performed by Bruce Springsteen
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
Published by Bruce Springsteen

User Reviews

At the risk of my own cynical reputation...

It's all well and good to stroll through life with a healthy air of scepticism, but despite some peoples' views on these supposedly 'manipulative' romantic films, there are an elite few that really do have things to say based on something more noble than ticket sales - things that are actually worth listening to.

Jerry Maguire is one of these rare beasts. No, it's not perfect, and no, it doesn't ring true for every last second of its running time, but if you come away from it with a sneer rather than a genuine desire to take a step back and look at yourself, then there's no romance in your soul at all. It's a genre that's always been particularly susceptible to the flood of lacklustre money-spinners, so to come across something that's had so much visible thought and effort thrown into it from all corners is a revelation. I'm not naive enough to think that anything making it big in the film industry these days can be purely a labour of love, but Jerry Maguire at least comes close.

It's refreshing to see Tom Cruise demonstrate that, against all odds, he can act his heart out when given the right role, as can Cuba Gooding Jr. (neither of them better previously or since) - and the rest of the cast give it every bit as much passion. It's beautifully written, and shot with an easy style that makes me wish there were more directors like Cameron Crowe in this world.

And on top of that, it gets better with each viewing. Even the soundtrack feels as if weeks have been spent fine-tuning it to perfection, and I'm no fan of Springsteen or Tom Petty. Deride it if you like, I'm not saying that Jerry Maguire's totally free of sentiment... I'm just suggesting that it's not necessarily a bad thing to have your heartstrings tugged and your self-awareness questioned once in a while.