Why Jerry Maguire Endures

Jerry Maguire, the Tom Cruise movie about a sports agent battling his conscience, is now more than twenty years old and it still demands repeat viewings, a claim few other movies can make, and I believe it has endured because it has something to say about the human condition, of living in a world short on compassion, and it does so with empathy, wit, great writing and some great performances. Its not a perfect movie. The plot contrives to deliver Jerry his final epiphany which is not convincing and some of its earnestness and corniness push into the realm of cheese. Nevertheless the movie leaves a strong impression on the viewer – this viewer anyway – which gurantees that each time it plays on the TV some of it if not all of it will be consumed with some admiration and even joy.

Jerry Maguire begins with Jerry suffering a bout of conscience. He writes a memo – a Mission Statement – to his fellow SMI agents decrying the dishonesty and moral corruption in the sports-management business and asks them to take on fewer clients with whom they can forge relationships that are more meaningful and less transactional. He is fired for his compassion-filled-anti-capitalistic-rant. On his way out he makes a desperate plea to his colleagues to join him on his crusade. The plea is ignored by all but one SMI employee – Dorothy Boyd, who has been secretly crushing on him and who now in his moment of crisis agrees to follow him off the cliff. They set-up a new firm, which only two of Jerry’s former clients agree to join. But that number is quickly halved when Cushman – a superstar quarterback who is expected to be the number one NFL draft pick – betrays him, by signing with SMI. Devastated at losing a big star – a guaranteed high-dollar paycheck – Jerry breaks his engagement with his fiancé, whose response to his setback is one of anger and not empathy. Hopelessly lost Jerry falls back on Dorothy for emotional succor and companionship.

Dorothy loves Jerry. He is less certain about their relationship. She gets a job in San Diego that can provide the kind of security a single-mother needs. Jerry, once more pricked by his conscience, asks her not to leave and marry him instead. And she does. Now with a wife and son, he tries to salvage his enterprise by representing his only client Rod Tidwell. But Tidwell proves to be difficult and unprofitable to manage. Tidwell is a unconventional  wide-receiver with a bag of chips on his shoulders. He believes he is being shafted by the system, which won’t pay him his dues. He’s prickly, combative and a chore to be around. Jerry begs him to be more likeable, to play the game for the love of it, to allow the world into his heart rather than treat it like an enemy. Meanwhile Jerry’s marriage to Dorothy deteriorates and they separate.

The climax of the movie arrives. In a game, Rod Tidwell, while completing a touchdown, is knocked unconscious. He stays down for many tense moments but then finally resurrects and when he does he breaks into a dance, which the crowd cheer. It’s his grand gesture, his acknowledgement of the world around him, his character arcing into happiness and actualization. Thrilled that he is safe Jerry and Tidwell hug – not as business partners but as friends, an act that it looked upon with envy by other players who wonder why they don’t have similar relationships with their agents. The moment also forces Jerry to reconsider his own relationship with Dorothy, to reconsider what is truly important to him. He runs back to her house “looking for his wife,” who accepts him into her arms.

In the end Rod Tidwell signs a 11 million dollar contract. Jerry wins many more clients and he, Dorothy and their son live happily ever after.

Plot synopses rarely do justice to movies or novels. But they can lay bare the conventions and contrivances story-tellers fall back on while herding the narrative through the well-trod pathways demarcated by genre demands as they lead the audience to a satisfying climax. The last fourth of Jerry Maguire doesn’t work. It’s far too synthetic, far too neat. In its quest to deliver a happy-ending it undoes what has preceded it, and worse it tries to battle the capitalistic-materialistic demands of modern society not by offering honesty and insight but by preaching hokey messages that are just as false as the advertisements Rod Tidwell wants to star in. It’s a movie that champions compassion, relationships, authenticity and rails against cynicism. And yet it ends by delivering a happy ending denominated in dollars and business success. Jerry Maguire has finally found acceptance, his Mission Statement had been validated. Capitalism wins all over again, a man’s worth can only be determined by how many customers he wins over, and by how much money he can make.

And as far as the love-story goes? That too rings false. The movie is a character study and character being studied is an ambitious man who keeps tripping over his conscience; his moral compass compels him to do things that are unnatural to him; we are also told that Jerry can never be alone. Jerry initially needs Dorothy because he is in the dumps and he needs someone to hold onto; she’s his rebound, crutch and assistant. Then when he asks her to marry him it’s because he believes that’s the right thing to do (loyalty)and not because he wants to. In both cases circumstances drive him to her. He is made helpless, in the first instance by the overwhelming situation that threatens to drown him and in the second instance by a sense of guilt, and in both cases he is not mature enough to correctly assess his feelings, his actions and the consequences they may lead to. Then in the end to believe that his climatic return to Dorothy’s house is a genuine gesture and not another impulsive reaction in response to the emotional-high of the moment created by his client’s success is difficult to swallow. Has Jerry really changed? There is no evidence of this. Even Rod Tidwell’s “change” and “success” seems unearned, and forced.

Despite the big drawbacks the movie is engaging – much of it anyway. And that’s because every element in it works. The writing, the directing, the cinematography, and the acting are all top-grade. The film creates a world that is complete, novel and well-realized. The world of sports-management, where relationships and money are synonymous, is a particularly fertile ground to investigate a tale of an ambitious man troubled by his conscience. In fact such an honest investigation alone without the commercial need to Hollywoodize it would have elevated it to the status of a classic. There is so much to appreciate, so many great scenes, so many memorable lines, and so many memorable performances. Its humorous, visually appealing and pulsing with life.

Even the lesser roles in the film are superbly realized. Kelly Preston as Jerry’s tough as nails girlfriend, Avery, shines especially in the scene when he breaks off their engagement. She along with Jerry’s colleagues depict the kind of ambitious, driven people he associates with and their attitude towards weakness and loss. Dorothy’s sister Laurel, played by Bonnie Hunt, is also very good. She’s the skeptic in the movie, the acid trying to balance an overly saccharine dish, the stand-in for all those eye-rolling moviegoers unwilling to go along with the plot, the characters and their unsound decisions. Then there is Dorothy’s son Ray, who is cute, and precocious as kids in movies like these usually are. And there is Regina King as Mrs. Tidwell, the woman who loves her man, and is willing to fight for him. Even some bit roles such as the one’s played by Jay Mohr (the smarmy back-stabbing agent) and Beau Bridges (Cushman’s father, another back-stabbing bit player) are memorable.

But the movie belongs to the three leads. Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger and Cuba Gooding Jr give if not their best performances then at least one of the best performances of their careers. Cuba Gooding’s turn as the egotistical, prickly, funny and over the top Rob Tidwell won him a Best Supporting Oscar. His high-key histrionics are critical because they have to match Cruise’s manic energy. And he succeeds, never once allowing the world’s biggest star to steal the lime light from him. Renee Zellweger also manages to equal her counterpart. It’s tougher for her. Her character is more measured. She doesn’t get to throw a fit even though she is a single-mother in love with an impulsive, high-strung man. Nevertheless she manages to convey her own despair and loneliness. Zellweger’s performance is measured, more solemn; she believes in Jerry’s mission statement, she loves him, and the sincerity of her emotions are never in doubt. Now whether a character like that would be written today I can’t say. In more ways than one it’s a supporting rather than a lead role and she risks being reduced to a doormat. But Zellweger, aided by a few good dialogues, comes across as enough of an individual with dignity and conviction  that one doesn’t think that her character solely exists as a plot device helping Jerry along his narrative arc towards redemption.

And finally there is Tom Cruise. He gives his best performance in this film. Some people characterize Jerry Maguire as a rom-com but the story fails to meet the genre’s criteria which requires the leads to play roles of equal importance. Jerry Maguire doesn’t do that. Dorothy Boyd’s story is not nearly as well considered as Jerry Maguire’s. There is romance in the story but the love is secondary to the movie’s goal which is primarily concerned with Jerry’s trials and tribulations as he tries to hang on to his humanity in a world where actually giving a damn maybe a hindrance. And Tom Cruise is spectacular in it. This is his Taxi Driver, his Scarface, his Streetcar Named Desire. He has a large acting range and the script allows his to deploy all of it. From the smooth winner in the beginning fully in control of his life, to the man battling his conscience and pouring his heart into a mission statement, to a despairing, wallowing failure, drunk and desperate, to a man-at-sea trying to do right by the girl who’s been loyal to him, to the sport’s agent pleading with his exasperating client to lose the attitude, to the contrite lover returning home to claim his wife, he does it all, and does it memorably well. Along with Born on the of Fourth of July, it’s his most vulnerable role. It also his only role that required him to be so emotionally forthcoming. Tom Crusie was nominated for the Oscar for Jerry Maguire but lost to Geoffrey Rush for Shine.

Jerry Maguire was written and directed by Cameron Crowe. If Tom Cruise is the face of the enterprise then Cameron Crowe is its soul. This is his movie, and in my opinion his best movie. Some rate Almost Famous higher but I found that movie underwhelming. Its lacks the humor, the energy, and characters that make Jerry Maguire so watchable. Jerry Maguire is replete with quotable lines and watchable scenes and they were all written by Crowe. And he has yet create anything better than it.