Despite the mix of many genres, this is a well-balanced movie

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2005)

Jerry Maguire is a sports agent and in a certain way a very typical manager. He thinks, lives and acts fast, he's a popular guy who earns buckets full of money and has everything except a conscience. But than on one night he gets an epiphany. Money is no longer the most important thing when doing business... He writes it all down, gives his text to all his colleagues and bosses and gets almost immediately fired for it. He decides to start as an independent and all a sudden no one seems to like him anymore except for two people. A young football player and a female accountant. Together with them, he'll try to prove the rest that he is right and that the others are wrong, that he's still a very good agent, that he still has a nose for talent,...
This movie is a mix of several genres: drama, comedy, feel-good movie and romance, but somehow seems to be able to keep everything well balanced. I'm not familiar with Cameron Crowe's work, but this movie certainly makes me want to see more of it. Of course the director isn't the only one that makes a movie work. The acting is done very well too, but what else can you expect from a cast with Renée Zellwegger, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Tom Cruise in it. OK, having big names in your movie doesn't necessarily mean that it will all work, but this time it did. It all looked very real and believable to me.
I'm not saying this is the best movie I've ever seen (there can be only one the best), but this one certainly gave me a good feeling. Sometimes it was perhaps a bit too corny, but overall I liked what I saw and that's sometimes very rare in Hollywood movies. I give it a 7.5/10.