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 agent with the only athlete who stays with him and his former colleague.
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 of 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, Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), and the only person with belief in his abilities, Dorothy Boyd (Renée Zellweger), with the impossible task of rebuilding what he once had. Along the way, he faces the harsh truth which he'd ignored in the past and a host of hardships that he'd never faced before.Written by
Hax_9
Two Sir Paul McCartney instrumentals are used in this movie, "Momma Miss America" (during the airport montage) and "Singalong Junk" (during Jerry and Dorothy's first kissing scene on the porch), both from the 1970 album "McCartney". Cameron Crowe received McCartney's permission without ever having met him, instead sending a tape of this movie to the latter's office. The two met for the first time five years later in Los Angeles, California, and the result of that meeting was McCartney composing the title song to Crowe's Vanilla Sky (2001), which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. See more »
Goofs
When Dorothy is about to go out with Jerry, she
alternately has/doesn't have curly hair on the side of her face. See more »
The version prepared for the cable TV premiere on Showtime includes a new fictional Reebok advertisement at the end of the film over the closing credits. Director Cameron Crowe originally decided not to include the commercial, who features Cuba Gooding Jr. as athlete Rod Tidwell, in the theatrical version because he thought he ruined the ending. Allegedly, the fictional commercial has been reinstated because of a lawsuit between Reebok and Columbia Pictures over the terms of product placement in the film. See more »
She
Written by Chris Ethridge and Gram Parsons
Performed by Gram Parsons
Courtesy of Reprise Records
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products
Published by Irving Music, Inc. / House of Jones Music See more »
This movie is a comedy, drama, romance, sports movie, and a money movie (e.g. Wall Street, where the main character is trying to make a lot of money). The problem such a movie faces is maintaining a consistent tone. Remember Prizzi's Honor? JM solves that problem by using restraint. It doesn't go over the top, although its characters sometimes do. It has funny moments, but it's not Animal House or American Pie. It's a drama, but it keeps the stakes low. This isn't Armageddon: they aren't trying to save the world. There are no life or death decisions. The romantic stakes aren't that high either: Renee Zellweger loves Tom Cruise, but she's been in love before and if this doesn't work out, she will be again. The only really high stakes are the money. By keeping the stakes low, JM let's us watch it with a bit of detachment.
This is more of a drama than a comedy. A good test is whether the characters change. Here, Tom Cruise starts off completely cynical, abruptly changes to ridiculously idealistic, then spends the rest of the movie finding the right balance. Renee Zellweger starts by loving Tom Cruise from afar, then gets him, then has to work out her ambiguous feelings.
JM is fun to watch. The characters, though flawed, are sympathetic. We enjoy watching them succeed, fail (sometimes in funny ways), and try to discover what they really care about. It's complicated, thoughtful, and surprisingly subtle.
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This movie is a comedy, drama, romance, sports movie, and a money movie (e.g. Wall Street, where the main character is trying to make a lot of money). The problem such a movie faces is maintaining a consistent tone. Remember Prizzi's Honor? JM solves that problem by using restraint. It doesn't go over the top, although its characters sometimes do. It has funny moments, but it's not Animal House or American Pie. It's a drama, but it keeps the stakes low. This isn't Armageddon: they aren't trying to save the world. There are no life or death decisions. The romantic stakes aren't that high either: Renee Zellweger loves Tom Cruise, but she's been in love before and if this doesn't work out, she will be again. The only really high stakes are the money. By keeping the stakes low, JM let's us watch it with a bit of detachment.
This is more of a drama than a comedy. A good test is whether the characters change. Here, Tom Cruise starts off completely cynical, abruptly changes to ridiculously idealistic, then spends the rest of the movie finding the right balance. Renee Zellweger starts by loving Tom Cruise from afar, then gets him, then has to work out her ambiguous feelings.
JM is fun to watch. The characters, though flawed, are sympathetic. We enjoy watching them succeed, fail (sometimes in funny ways), and try to discover what they really care about. It's complicated, thoughtful, and surprisingly subtle.