Tom Cruise's Greatest Performance

Rating: 8/10 (7 June 2013)

Jerry Maguire is what it is because it blends everything it has to begin with, with talented writing and phenomenal performances from Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr. This story at first is in a way, a satire of American sports. Everything from NFL drafts to player's wages, the film exploits everything in between at the very beginning. At first, Jerry Maguire is Tom Cruise. Literally, this is the same character that Cruise has played in every film since Risky Business. However, you really get to know the character and feel great sympathy for him. He certainly did not deserve everything to happen to him, and you really get a great sense of his peers as well. Is this really what it is, or more like, is this really how it is? Either way this is the best performance of Tom Cruise's career hands-down. Cuba Gooding Jr is the real star of the show. He deserved his best supporting actor Oscar as much as Cruise deserved his best actor. The two work well off each other, and you really anticipate the next time they are on screen together. The film slowly evolves into a love story, not only between Cruise and Renée Zellweger, but the bond between Cruise and Cuba. This is a film that works, every cheesy but quotable line, every chuckle from Cuba Gooding Jr being an outlandish diva and every time you realize that this is a film that is much deeper than what you may have thought. Go see it.