The Good & Bad Of 'Jerry Maguire'

Rating: 7/10 (10 July 2006)

Every time I see a football player act like he's been mortally wounded, and then gets up and continues playing just fine, I think of this movie. Cuba Gooding plays just such a character but Tom Cruise is the star of this movie which did pretty well at the box office. You wouldn't think a film about a sports agent would be this successful.
THE GOOD - Generally nice people that you want to root for, especially the kid, "Ray Boyd," played by Jonathan Lipnicki, That was this child's first film and he went on to further fame in the Stuart Little movies and now on television. Cuba Gooding was funny in an exaggerated role of the greedy and show-boating football player. Cruise and Rene Zellweger are big names in the business who usually deliver good performances.
THE BAD - Nineties morality (sex right off the bat, and a few other attitudes) and overuse of the f-word. There's not an excessive amount, but way too many f- words for a nice romantic-comedy like this. The film gets a bit soap opera-like at times, and is a little long.
OVERALL - Despite the good outweighing the bad, and a generally likable group of characters, I really never had the urge to watch this a second time. Oh, and a postscript: those soccer players in the World Cup that just concluded did Cuba proud with their "swan dives" throughout the tournament. One minute they were dead; the next minute, alive and kicking!