remembered for so much, and it's actually a pretty good movie

Rating: 7/10 (28 December 2018)

Tom Cruise is so Tom CRUISE here he out Tom Cruises when Ben Stiller has done Tom Cruise (or should I say Tom Crooze?) He is practically everything that he has ever been asked to do as an actor, minus the running and action stuff (oh, no, wait, he does run a little bit in the climax, how about that) and it's one of his major performances (to the point where I wondered a few times if this could be an unintentional sequel to Risky Business). He, and not Cuba Gooding Jr (who is fine but given a largely two dimensional character, a type to be sure), deserved the hell out of that Oscar. This is his movie, and he rules at every moment.
The movie around him is fun and entertaining, and it's Cameron Crowe also at his most...Crowe-ish (for better or worse, mostly better, from his can't-help-himself wit to the musical choices, from the Who to Miles Davis), though not as deep as it might think it is early on. It also has a wonderful turn from Renee Zellwegger, a sleazy turn by Jay Mohr, and Jerry O'Connell for a few key scenes in one of his best turns (hey, no small roles, right?) The key thing for me about all this: Jerry Maguire was one of my cinematic blind spots until... Well, now.
I knew all of the major cultural references (it's just how it is, whether it's seeing a parody long before the actual source, to a Patton Oswalt bit about seeing it on Christmas), and seen a few scenes here and there, but I'd never seen it start to finish. What I come away with is... It works. Mostly. Largely on movie star charm and some snappy Crowe dialog that only occasionally is too, uh, cocky for its own good.
It also is a much more compelling story when it's focused on the sports world, and the first part seems to be indicating it'll be largely about that. And then roughly halfway through, when the thrust of the story should be about how Jerry picks up the pieces and gets back on track, Crowe remembers he wants to kick in his romantic comedy/drama plot and it takes over. Arguably, a bit too much and yet, there are some really touching scenes late in the film between Cruise and Zellweger, like it almost makes up for a sluggish middle.
Jerry Maguire, not without flaws, is what used to be a quality example of a popular and massive Hollywood hit in the mid 1990s. I wonder now if it would go straight to Netflix or not, with a different star. Is it still an iconic Hollywood piece of the 90s? I dunno. But I did laugh. And I could see how Crowe could go down the path he has for the last 15 years.