Not Just A Chick-Flick

Rating: 8/10 (6 February 2007)

Once, long ago, before Renée Zellweger was British or Cuba Gooding Jr. was famous, the two of them starred in a movie with Tom Cruise. That movie was called Jerry Maguire.
Tom Cruise plays the title role, a part originally written for Tom Hanks. Maguire is a professional sports agent, a self confessed 'Shark in a suit'. Unfortunately for him, one night he develops a conscience, which leads to him typing up a mission statement which contains the rather foolish line 'Fewer clients. Less Money.' This rather unorthodox approach is not appreciated by the company he works for, who promptly fire him. Maguire manages to take with him Dorothy Boyd from accounts (Zellweger), a fish, and one client, the Oscar winning Gooding, who plays a rather annoying American Footballer. He leaves everything else, including his friends, most of his dignity and his fiancée behind, though this last one is no bad thing as Zellweger has admired him from afar for a long time and now is her chance. By the end of the movie Maguire has realised what's important in life, and the audience all know it's going to be alllllll right.
Now, I can be as cynical as the next man, unless I'm on a coach full of estate agents, but this movie really gets me. Yes, we know exactly what's going to happen, there are no real surprises, but in a Romance like this the destination isn't the point, the journey is. And what a journey.
The first pleasant sight we can see to our left is that Tom Cruise is actually a very good comedy actor. I've never really been a fan of insulting Mr Cruise, and it's movies like this that reassure me that the man can actually do something other than look very pretty. Then of course there is Jonathan Lipnicki as Zellweger's son, Ray Boyd, who at the tender age of 6 manages to steal every scene he is in. It's like someone put the Milky Bar Kid, Shirley Temple and a baby puppy into a blender, hit go, poured the pulp into some kind of child star mold, put it in the freezer for a while to set, then got these big electrodes and attached them. OK, not sure where I'm going with this, but the kid is cute and lovable and not all that bad, OK? Renée Zellweger appears, (well done her). However her sister, played by Bonnie Hunt, actually gets something to do other than make the appropriate face at Tom Cruise (adoring, understanding, mournful and adoring) and so gets a chance to really shine, and believe me she does. This woman should be a bigger star than she is though I get the feeling she may well be more suited to a television format.
The real revelation is, of course, Cuba Gooding Jr. His portrayal of Rod Tidwell, which deservedly won him the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, is key to the movie. Despite his 'family motto' being the now famous "Show Me The Money", it is Tidwell who shows us that the pursuit of money is not a bad thing, just that it is not the most important thing, which is in essence the message of the whole movie. Further underlining this is the voice of Maguire's old mentor, Dickie Fox, played by an amazingly convincing Jared Jussim (who!?), a character who finally tells us that "I don't have all the answers. In life, to be honest, I've failed as much as I've succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. I wish you my kind of success." Testify brother Fox, testify.
So what Crowe has given us here is a romantic movie where love is indeed the most important thing, but not just love towards the object of your desire, but to everyone around you. It's about reaching out, realising how important other people are, and realising that if you do not love yourself then you really are never going to make it. Oh, and that you should love black people. Apparently.