Jerry MaGuire – 1996
I had it in my mind that this was a pretty good movie. I was expecting to like it because I had seen it before a long time ago and I had enjoyed it then, though I didn’t remember any of the details of the actual plot. I remembered that I liked some of the characters and the message was good, that being that personal kindness and honest hard work will make you a better person than soulless greed and money grubbing. But upon seeing it again, I have changed my mind. While it was an OK movie, I found that after seeing it the second time, I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. Here’s why.
The movie was painfully predictable with a cookie-cutter plot. The acting was good, though not all of it. The music didn’t seem to fit the story, though I’ll admit that I can’t exactly pinpoint why. And the movie shamelessly broke the cardinal sin of movie making. Cute for the sake of cute is never cute. Never! I know. That last one is actually a plot point, but they went a little overboard. And on top of it all, the movie is packed so full of that testosterone-laden, sports-minded machismo that seems to be inherent in the sports industry, and self-importance that I kept wanting to roll my eyes.
Tom Cruise played the title character Jerry Maguire, a high-roller sports agent who would basically sell his soul to get his clients multi-million dollar contracts and endorsement deals. He is successful working for Sports Management International or SMI. All he cares about is the money instead of about the people he works for. After a tragic scene involving a severely injured athlete and his scared little son, Jerry, fueled by guilt, writes a mission statement that condemns SMI for focusing too much on the money and not enough on the clients. Of course, he is fired.
Before leaving he tries to get his clients to follow him as he starts his own sports agent agency, though the only one he is able to get is Rod Tidwell, played by Cuba Gooding Jr. Rod is a little known football player with a bloated sense of self-worth and an attitude problem. And this is where we get that famous, though kind-of ridiculous, “SHOW ME THE MONEY!” scene as Jerry begs Rod not to drop him as his agent. Then, as Jerry leaves the office, he does one of those dramatic and boisterous exits in which he actually uses the “Who’s with me?” line. At first, nobody responds, but at the last second, single mother Dorothy Boyd, played by Renee Zellweger, agrees to go with him to be his personal assistant.
There’s the set-up. From there, the plot falls into the completely predictable pattern we have seen in so many other films. And I’m pointing my finger at rom-coms in particular. Jerry tries his best to make things work but keeps hitting road blocks. Eventually things go so badly that he hits rock bottom, gets drunk, and has one of those “I’ve messed everything up” scenes. Then he is inspired to pull himself out of his slump and he works very hard. He has an unexpected major success and everything turns out for the best in the end. And not only has Jerry learned a valuable lesson, but he has become a better person. Oh, and his trite romance with Dorothy turns out to be true love, and they all live happily ever after.
I know I’m over-simplifying it a lot, but those incredibly predictable tropes are the backbones of the plot. And along the way we also had to deal with Dorothy’s 5 year-old son, Ray, played by Jonathan Lipnicki. He was cute overload, and they had him doing things that shoved it down our throats. He would do such inane things like running to Jerry and hugging his leg. They had him talking with a ridiculous lisp. They had him pouting when Jerry and Dorothy were on the verge of splitting up. But like I said, I understand that Jerry falling in love with the boy was an important plot point. I just think they could have toned it down or changed a few things so it wasn’t so forced.
And then there was Renee Zellweger’s acting, or lack thereof. She just didn’t seem to be up to par with her co-stars. I mean, for all the flack I’m giving the movie, Tom Cruise is actually a good actor, though I feel I’ve seen him play the same character in some of his other films. So you put Zellweger next to him or Cuba Gooding Jr. and she just isn’t as good. At least she wasn’t in this film. She seemed to have the same facial expression, no matter what emotion she was trying to display. And to me, her acting has always seemed a bit forced, like she was not completely comfortable in front of the camera. You know how some actors like Robert DiNero or Jody Foster look totally at ease on the screen, like they aren’t even aware they are being filmed? That isn’t Renee Zellweger. Still, I did like some of the supporting cast like Bonnie Hunt, Jay Mohr, and Jerry O’Connell, and Beau Bridges.
And I have to acknowledge one final interesting fact about the film. Several lines from the film have become embedded in the pop-culture vernacular. Who knew they came from Jerry MaGuire? Not only did we get “SHOW ME THE MONEY!” but we also got, “You complete me”, “Help me help you”, and “You had me at ‘hello’”