A Richly Entertaining Character Study/Romantic Comedy with a first rate cast...

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2007)

Tom Cruise had one of his best roles and earned his second Oscar Nomination for Best Actor for his charismatic JERRY MAGUIRE, a richly entertaining comedy drama that is a seamless blend of character study and romantic comedy. Jerry is a driven and ambitious sports agent for an international agency that represents professional athletes in all sports who has a crisis of conscience that motivates him to write a "mission statement", which turns out to be more of a defiant manifesto blasting everything that is wrong in his business. he distributes his "memo" throughout the office and though it gets faint praise initially, it does end up getting him fired from the agency. We then see Jerry try to continue his business though he only has one client who agrees to stick with him. Director-writer Cameron Crowe (FAST TIMES AT RIDGMONT HIGH; ALMOST FAMOUS)solidified his position as a master cinematic storyteller with this epic story told on an intimate scale. His extremely deft screenplay is sharply delivered by a perfect cast. This role seems tailor-made for Cruise and he makes the most of it. Cuba Gooding Jr. won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his star-making performance as Rod Tidwell, Jerry's most loyal client; Renee Zelwegger was the find of the year as Dorothy Boyd, the secretary from the agency who follows Jerry when he's fired and agrees to work for him and eventually falls for him; Bonnie Hunt scores as Dorothy's sister as does Kelly Preston, in one of her best performances as Jerry's shark of an ex-fiancée. Regina King should have received an Oscar nomination for her solid performance as Tidwell's wife, Marcy; Jay Mohr is quite funny as Bob Sugarman, a rival agent who is battling Jerry to represent another football player (Jerry O'Connell)who is being watched over by his protective dad (Beau Bridges). A rare gem from the 1990's that is not only grandly entertaining, but vividly real...there's nothing false or affected here (though some might find Gooding's Tidwell a little over the top), this film is one of those rare treats that is long, but you hardly feel it. A real treat and a must for Cruise fans.