Cruise Bored Me at "Hello"

Rating: 4/10 (18 February 2006)

This is an awkward attempt at linking a sports movie with a romance story. It might have worked much better, except the focal point of both stories is, regretfully, Tom Cruise.
Cuba Gooding, Jr. plays an athlete who keeps Jerry McGuire (Cruise) as his agent, after some kind of skulduggery by fellow agents costs Jerry all his other clients (not a well-developed sub-plot, by the way). Gooding's fast babbling and shouting sometimes became an earful, but overall it an interesting and likable character. Gooding made "Show me the money!" a commonly-quoted sound-bite.
This was the first time I saw Rene Zellweger, and her performance as Dorothy was touching and sweet. You feel her growing sadness and frustration at her situation. Like Gooding, she gave us a memorable line: "You had me at hello." Johnathon Lipnicki is great as her son, who bonds with Jerry instantly, but is confused by his behavior.
Then there's Tom Cruise. As usual, he over-emotes, swings his arms all over the place when he's talking, looks bewildered at everything, and turns in yet another uninspired role. Like so many other movies, strong acting by his co-stars carries the load and Tom just poses for the camera with the same old glazed expression. Unfortunately, he's playing the title character, and as such, should do something beyond reading from cue cards.
Without Cruise, the film might have warranted a 7. With him, it plummets to a 4.