Jerry Maguire is a 1996 American comedy-drama film starring Tom Cruise. It was written and directed by Cameron Crowe.
Plot
Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) is a 35 year old sports agent working for Sports Management International (SMI). After suffering a nervous breakdown as a result of stress and a guilty conscience, he writes a mission statement about perceived dishonesty in the sports management business and how he believes that it should be operated. He goes to a copy shop early the next morning and distributes copies of it, entitled "The Things We Think and Do Not Say: The Future of Our Business" to all of his fellow employees. His co-workers are touched by his honesty and greet him with applause the next business day, but the company's management orders Maguire fired for his actions.
The management sends Bob Sugar (Jay Mohr), Maguire's protégé, to fire Maguire. Jerry and Bob then proceed to call all of Jerry's clients to try to convince them to not hire the services of the other. Jerry gets through to Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), one of his clients who is disgruntled by his contract that he believes to be far inferior than that of his teammates. Tidwell tests Jerry's resolve through a very long telephone conversation, which culminates in the famed "Show Me the Money!" telephone yelling match between Rod and Jerry. Meanwhile, Bob Sugar secures most of Jerry's previous clients as his own. Frank Cushman, a superstar football prospect expected to be drafted #1 in the NFL Draft, also ends up staying on with Jerry after he makes a visit to Cushman's home. Leaving the office, Jerry announces he will start his own sports management agency and asks if anyone is willing to join him to which only 26-year-old single mother Dorothy Boyd (Renée Zellweger) agrees. Boyd had previously bumped into Maguire in the airport and told him personally how inspiring she found his "memo."
Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire in "Show me the money!" scene
Jerry travels to the NFL Draft with Cushman and convinces Tidwell to come along as well, to give him exposure to representatives of other NFL teams should he later become a free agent. Though Tidwell at first feels neglected compared to the superstar Cushman, Bob Sugar contacts Cushman's dad while Jerry is in the lobby with Tidwell and re-signs Cushman to SMI. Jerry is devastated and turns to his fiancée Avery for support, but she rebukes him and he breaks up with her. He then turns to Dorothy, becoming closer to her young son, Ray, and eventually starts a relationship with her. However, without any commissions coming in to support their business, Dorothy contemplates moving to San Diego as she has a secure job offer there.
Jerry concentrates all his efforts on Tidwell, now his only client, who turns out to be a very difficult client to satisfy. Over the next several months, the two direct harsh criticism towards each other with Rod claiming that Jerry is not trying hard enough to get him a contract while Jerry claims that Rod is not proving himself to deserve the money for which he asks. Eventually, Rod's star starts to rise but the two invariably get into an argument and remain estranged. He ends up later marrying Dorothy in order to provide her medical insurance and share expenses to help them both stay afloat financially and to keep her from moving to San Diego. He is emotionally and physically distant during the marriage, but is clearly invested in becoming a father to Ray. Although Dorothy is totally in love with him, she breaks up with him because she believes he does not love her, and married her out of fear of being alone and because he enjoyed playing father to her son.
Bob Sugar spots Rod just before the game and attempts to steal him, an attempt rebuked by Rod and Jerry, who travels to the Cardinals game. The two reconcile soon after. Rod plays well but appears to receive a serious injury when catching a touchdown. He recovers, however, and dances for the crowd, which cheers wildly for him. After the game, Jerry and Rod get renewed confidence for a lucrative new contract for Rod. After months of harsh words and criticism directed towards one another, the two embrace in front of other athletes and sports agents and show how their relationship has progressed from a strictly business one to a close personal one, which was one of the points Jerry made in his mission statement. Jerry then flies back home to seek out Dorothy and tell her that he loves her and wants her in his life (the famous "You had me at hello" scene). He also mentions that his business has really picked up.
Rod Tidwell later appears on a sports show for an interview. Unbeknownst to him, Jerry has secured him an $11.2 million contract with the Cardinals that will allow him to finish his pro football career in Arizona. The visibly emotional Tidwell proceeds to thank everyone who helped accomplish this success and extends warm gratitude to Jerry for his help. Jerry, who is also on the set of the show, speaks with several other pro athletes, some of whom have read his earlier mission statement and express their positive opinion of it as well as respect for the work he had done with Tidwell. The film ends with Jerry, Dorothy and Ray walking in the park and stumbling across a Little League baseball game. When the ball lands near them, Ray picks it up and throws it back onto the field; a surprised Jerry then comments on his natural throwing ability, much to Dorothy's dismay.
Reception
Jerry Maguire remains popular because of its memorable quotations, including "Show me the money!" (shouted repeatedly in a phone exchange between Rod Tidwell and Jerry Maguire), "You complete me", "Help me help you", and "You had me at 'hello'" (said by Dorothy Boyd after a lengthy romantic plea by Jerry Maguire), and "Kwan" (a word used by Rod Tidwell meaning love, respect, community, and money; also spelled 'quan' and 'quawn') mentioned by Tidwell to illustrate the difference between himself and other football players: "Other football players may have the coin, but they won't have the 'Quan'". These lines are largely attributed to Cameron Crowe, director and screenwriter of the movie.
The film was well received, with Cuba Gooding, Jr. winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Rod Tidwell, the Arizona Cardinals football player who sticks with Maguire. Cruise was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role and, although Renée Zellweger missed out on a nomination for her portrayal of Dorothy Boyd, it was Zellweger's breakout role. The film itself was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, and crew members on the film were nominated for Best Screenplay and Best Film Editing awards.
In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Jerry Maguire was acknowledged as the tenth best film in the sports genre.[2][3]
Awards and nominations
Academy Awards
- Best Actor (Cruise, nominated)
- Best Editing (nominated)
- Best Picture (nominated)
- Best Screenplay – Original (Crowe, nominated)
- Best Supporting Actor (Gooding Jr., won)
Chicago Film Critics Association
- Best Supporting Actor (Gooding Jr., won)
Directors Guild of America
- Outstanding Directing – Motion Pictures (Crowe, nominated)
Golden Globe Awards
- Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Cruise, won)
- Best Film – Musical or Comedy (nominated)
- Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture (Gooding Jr., nominated)
Image Awards
- Outstanding Actor – Motion Picture (Gooding Jr., nominated)
Satellite Awards
- Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Cruise, won)
- Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Gooding Jr., won)
- Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Zellweger, nominated)
Screen Actors Guild
- Outstanding Actor – Motion Picture (Cruise, nominated)
- Outstanding Supporting Actor (Gooding Jr., won)
- Outstanding Supporting Actress (Zellweger, nominated)
Writers Guild of America
- Best Screenplay – Original (Crowe, nominated)
Cast
Themes
The film tackles a range of themes and critiques materialism at the expense of personal relationships. The "voice of reason" throughout the film is that of Dickie Fox (Jared Jussim), Jerry Maguire's mentor, who comments at the very end of the film that "Hey, I don't have all the answers. In life, to be honest, I failed as much as I have succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. And I wish you my kind of success". Cameron Crowe suggests reaching out to the people around us is the key to professional as well as personal success. The famous "Show me the money!" scene, featuring Rod Tidwell demanding Jerry scream his "family motto" back to him over the phone, epitomizes the empty values of those around Jerry, yet somewhat paradoxically it is Rod who serves as a role-model for the family values and personal attention that Jerry seeks. Crowe's point is that the pursuit of financial success need not be incompatible with family values or personal relationships, simply that it should take second place to them.
Cameos and trivia
- Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr., former NFL quarterbacks Drew Bledsoe, Troy Aikman, and Warren Moon, German ice skater Katarina Witt and former Detroit Lions coach Wayne Fontes play themselves in the film.
- Other NFL players that make cameos as themselves are Tim McDonald, Johnnie Morton, Rick Mirer, Rob Moore, Ki-Jana Carter, Herman Moore, Art Monk, Kerry Collins, and Dean Biasucci
- Deion Sanders was the athlete who Cuba Gooding Jr. modeled his character after.
- Sportscasters Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Roy Firestone, Mike Tirico, and Dan Dierdorf also make cameos.
- Current Houston Rocket Brent Barry is featured in the film as an athlete who wouldn't sign an autograph for a young boy.
- Actresses portraying ex-girlfriends of Maguire include Alison Armitage, Emily Procter, and Stacey Williams. Reagan Gomez-Preston also had a minor role in the movie as part of the Tidwell family.
- Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell makes a brief appearance in the film as a copier store clerk.
- The Maguire character is based on Leigh Steinberg who had a cameo at the end of the movie. Cruise has also said he drew inspiration from Sidney Falco, the Tony Curtis-played publicity agent in Sweet Smell of Success.
- The score for the film was composed by Nancy Wilson, Cameron Crowe's wife and guitarist in the band Heart.
- Tom Hanks was originally offered the title role, but turned it down. The producers also approached John Travolta.
- The movie features a character, "Bob Sugar", who is based in large part on Drew Rosenhaus (who also makes a cameo appearance as himself), one of the National Football League's most aggressive sports agents. He is named for musician Bob Mould and his band Sugar.
- The Joker in The Dark Knight humorously quotes Maguire when he tells Batman "You complete me."
- Legendary film director Billy Wilder was originally offered the cameo role of McGuire's mentor Dicky Fox, but turned it down after much pleading by both Crowe and Cruise. Wilder later collaborated with Crowe on a book of interviews about the Director's career.
- In the 1998 comedy film A Night at the Roxbury, the Butabi brothers share the exchange that Jerry and Dorothy have in the film when they say "You complete me/You had me at hello."
- On May 8, 2009, The Strathmore Players released their theatrical adaptation of the film, entitled, "Jerry Maguire: The Musical," to great critical acclaim. It was debuted at UCLA's annual Spring Sing competition before an audience of 7,500 people and a panel of celebrity judges. Not only did it win the competition (Judges' Choice), but it was the recipient of the first-ever Bruins' Choice award as well. Written and directed by Justin Wedell, JMTM launched a new frontier for both Spring Sing and UCLA, garnering both a hype and success unprecedented in the competition.
- The entire scene where Jerry Maguire is leaving SMI is parodied in Dave Chappelle's movie Half Baked, when Jim Breuer's character gets fired from the record store and asks "Who's coming with me?!" as Jerry McGuire did. A female co-worker Jan, played by Laura Silverman eventually says that she will go with him in the same timid way that Renée Zellweger does.
- Jay Mohr (Bob Sugar) played Jerry O'Connell's (Kush) best friend Dorfman on the short-lived ABC sitcom Camp Wilder three years before the release of this film.
- The house Renee Zellwegger's character Dorothy Boyd lived in was filmed in the “Tree Section” of Manhattan Beach and is located 527 23rd Street.[citation needed]
- Renee Zellwegger and Tom Cruise's first date was filmed at Paco's Tacos at 4141 South Centinela Avenue in Los Angeles, CA.[citation needed]
- The Sid in Ice Age: The Meltdown humorously quotes Maguire when he tells Manfred(Mammoth) "She completes you."
- In the animated film Shark Tale, Oscar (Will Smith) triumphantly yells "You had me at hello!" during a mocked battle. Angie, played by Renee Zellwegger, appropiatly raises an eyebrow at the comment.
Soundtrack
As with all of Cameron Crowe's films, the soundtrack constitutes an important backdrop to the film (Crowe was a journalist with Rolling Stone in the 1970s). Highlights include:
"Secret Garden", originally a Springsteen track from 1995, was re-released in 1997, after its exposure in the film and on the soundtrack, and peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100.
References
External links
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