Jerry Maguire | | Cast : | Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger | | Director : | Cameron Crowe | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | December 13, 1996 | | DVD Released Date : | July 29, 2003 | | Language : | Spanish (Dubbed), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 03, 2005 | | Summary | This DVD COMPLETES my collection | Content
 | This is probably my favorite Tom Cruise film. I love that even though Cruise is undoubtedly the star of the movie (the title of the movie?!?), the greatness of the film didn't depend on his star power. The movie got a great supporting cast from Renee Zellweger to Cuba Gooding Jr., the movie's got a great screenplay ("Show me the money!!!" "You complete me"... "You had me at hello") that is amusing and funny and perceptive and intelligent without being pushy. I love that the characters are eloquent but knows its boundaries and know that a simple glance or close up or smirk says it all. In short the screenplay knows when to talk and when to shut up!
I also love the music used in the movie, I swear every time I hear "Free Falling" I can just picture Tom Cruise singing his lungs out or the Secret Garden by Springsteen, which is another song that I associate with the movie And of course there are the great performances by the entire cast. Cruise did a great job playing the character, it's fun seeing him play a loser for a change. This is one of his best performances. Renee Zellweger in her breakthrough role was radiant. Even though there's no doubt she's grown as an actress (from Chicago to Cold Mountain), I miss the understated, quiet effervescence and just vulnerability she showed in this movie (also in One True Thing). Cuba Gooding Jr the scene stealer himself, was just great. I especially like the scenes where he's making fun of Jerry. All of those things were used by Cameron Crowe to create this wonderful film.
In the DVD, there's a great extra, a video commentary. It's the normal commentary that we know except that there's another screen where we can see the speakers (Cruise, Zellweger, Gooding, Crowe). There's a small box at the bottom of the screen where we see the movie the way they see them. That was just innovative and very fun to watch, I wonder why others don't adopt this kind of commentary. This would especially work with "fun" films (Clueless, Friends!!).
Grade: A |
| Rating | | | Date | August 02, 2005 | | Summary | Much more than just another romantic comedy | Content
| Well, I'm incredibly late to the Jerry Maguire party, but I'm glad I finally made it. I thought this was just a comedy, but I should have known better because laughs alone usually don't generate the kind of success this movie enjoyed. This is a wonderful, feel-good movie with a surprisingly effective emotional payoff. Tom Cruise is great, Cuba Gooding, Jr., steals every scene he's in, and that Renee Zellweger is nothing short of perfect. They even threw in a clip of McGarrett on Hawaii Five-O and sent me away with Bob Dylan singing over the credits - in my book, that's going above and beyond the call of duty. And I never tire of seeing someone break away from the cynicism of big business and actually put some heart back into an increasingly heartless way of life.
Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) is, of course, a bigshot sports agent who has it all - then loses it all. For some inexplicable reason, he develops a conscience late one night, puts together this huge "mission statement" all about reducing the number of clients and giving those remaining the genuine personal touch, and sends it to everyone in the company. With a schlep of a boss like Bob Sugar (the always annoying Jay Mohr), his days with the company are, not surprisingly, numbered. He vows to start his own company, desperately trying to hold on to the clients he has been representing - but all he ends up taking with him are outrageous Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) and Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger), an accountant who was truly inspired by what he had written. It doesn't seem like much, but he really has all he will ever need - he just doesn't realize it until the end of the movie.
Life on his own is quite a struggle, especially after he breaks up with his vicious fiancée (Kelly Preston), and I know it must be truly demoralizing to be defeated time and time again by Jay Mohr. Rod Tidwell, a great player who doesn't get the notice (or money) he thinks he deserves, stays loyal to him, though, for rather inexplicable reasons - even after Maguire fails to get him the kind of big money he is looking for in a new contract. Dorothy also stays with him, and Maguire grows increasingly close to her and her little boy Ray (Jonathan Lipnicki). There's love in the air, and Maguire's famous problem with emotional intimacy makes what should be the simplest thing in the world immensely complicated. We see a lot of Maguire at his worst - double-crossed, drunk, beaten up, wallowing in self-pity. He never gives up, though, and that's what's important. I find it a little problematic that he did not apply the principles of his "mission statement" to the way he lived his life, but - in his defense - guys tend to be pretty dense about this kind of thing (and would that we all had a Dorothy to help us see the light).
There's a wonderful cast on display here, with uncommonly meaningful secondary characters: there's little Ray, of course, but Dorothy's bitter yet loving sister Laurel (Bonnie Hunt) and Rod Tidwell's wife Marcee (Regina King) really do lay claim to a commanding presence in the story. You can also make a little game of spotting all of the sports personalities that make cameos (usually silent ones, thankfully) in the film.
This isn't a comedy; it's a serious story that just happens to feature a lot of laughs. It's a commentary on the depersonalization of business, a complicated yet wonderfully sweet love story, and a movie with a surprisingly big heart. And I love Renee Zellweger. As far as I'm concerned, she - not Tom Cruise - was the star of this film. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 05, 2005 | | Summary | Jerry Maguire (Special Edition) | Content
| Another one of the best movies of the 90's and of all-time!
Tom Cruise in the title role gives the most memorable performance since A Few Good Men. Cuba Gooding Jr. was just as memorable as Jerry's client, Rod Tidwell. He was hilarious as he yelled, "SHOW ME THE MONEY!" And he was shown the Oscar as he won it for Best Supporting Actor.
Among the other great scenes in the movie, Tidwell tried his luck as the wedding singer singing Marvin Gaye's classic, "What's Going On" at their wedding. Funny and maybe a little appropriate since Gooding Jr's father, Cuba Gooding Sr. was the lead singer of the '70's soul group The Main Ingredient (Everybody Plays The Fool & Just Don't Want To Be Lonely).
Renne Zellweger, Regina King, Kelly Preston and Jonathon Lipnicki also provide great performances in, what is without question, a film classic!
So be sure you let Amazon.com SHOW YOU THIS DVD! |
| Rating | | | Date | May 19, 2005 | | Summary | One of Cruise's two best movies | Content
| This movie, along with "The Last Samurai" are, in my opinion, Tom Cruise's two best movies. I won't repeat the details expressed in other reviews.
This is a story of two men: Cruise (Jerry Maguire, the sports agent) learns to love someone instead of just his work; Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Rod) learns to play football with the emotion he previously showed only in his family life.
Renee Zellweger (Dorothy) gives a stunning performance. The scene in Dorothy's kitchen before Jerry and she go out to dinner is a magnificent piece of acting. She doesn't say a word - her facial expressions say it all. (Cameron Crowe, the director, said that Zellweger's performance in this scene was the best acting he had ever witnessed - and it was done in one take!)
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| Rating | | | Date | May 16, 2005 | | Summary | Effective, Emotional, and Entertaining | Content
| JERRY MAGUIRE is one of those films that I enjoy, even though I know I shouldn't. Why not, you ask? Well, it has a bit of a hopelessly optimistic viewpoint, it wormed its way into our vocabulary, and, overall, it's a bit too sugary. But for some reason I continue to be affected by it whenever I watch it. It is the believable story of a man who wakes up during the course of his life, has a revelation, and then refuses to accept the consequences of that revelation until the end of the film. I love the fact that Tom Cruise fails to change overnight, that he is more complex than that. And while I'm on the subject, I normally don't hand out a lot of praise to Tom Cruise, but this is another excellent performance of late. Having just seen COLLATERAL, I am beginning to wonder why he has always been overlooked as nothing more than a heartthrob. His performance in JERRY MAGUIRE is quite moving and he was perfectly cast.
Ultimately, I like JERRY MAGUIRE because its main character stumbles throughout the entire course of the film. Just when you think the sugar-coated lenses are about to come down on the film (and it happens a lot), Cameron Crowe throws a wrench in the gears and things come crashing back down around Cruise's character. Like many of Crowe's films, it is a film that dabbles in several genres (romantic love-story, comedy, drama) and ends up something quite different, but altogether entertaining. I highly recommend it. |
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