entertaining movie about life through sports in the u.s

Rating: Null/10 (20 October 2007)

I Liked 'Bull Durham' a lot ;but to me a film about sport or where it is used as backdrop to the plot usually fails to interest me.I approached "Jerry Maguire" warily thinking that it would not engage me.From Jerry's opening narration I was there.Cameron Crowe manages to make you look at things afresh - like Jerry's mission statement that gets him fired from his agency.Cameron Crowe like Preston Sturges before him seems to invent a whole new style of film comedy.All the characters are richly drawn.Tom Cruise is superb giving a generous performance full of variety-- his initial detachment and business like persona being stripped from him by Bob Sugar played with exquisite oiliness by Jay Mohr.Kelly Preston as Avery is a revelation kicking him as hard as she can physically and emotionally when he has reached the bottom rung.Cuba Gooding Jnr as Rod in a performance of a lifetime -- I Loved his comic temper and the way he welcomes Jerry by his side after their big row - nice and subtle.Renee Zelweeger has a beautiful integrity as Dorothy becoming Jerry's rock and Jonathan Lipnicki as Ray almost comes close to stealing the film away from the big hitters.Lots of great moments and for me the most powerful was Jerry being 'caught on the wedding video'and this being clocked by Dorothy and Rod respectively on the night of the wedding.Credit for this has to go to Cameron Crowe for surprising us by not giving us comfortable feelings at predictable times.