Jerry Maguire meets Phillip K. Dick

Rating: 9/10 (16 December 2001)

Like most films in the "what is reality?" genre, "Vanilla sky" has been done before. In this version: protagonist endures a life-changing event and then the traditional rules of cinema no longer apply.
So what is this film? Is it an artist's rendition of an impossibly handsome and rich protagonist (Cruise) who dances through life with impossibly beautiful and charming girlfriends (Cruz and Diaz) beneath a vanilla sky? Is it a mosaic of idealized 20th-century Americana coupled with an eerily-effective musical score? Is it perhaps a morality lesson, reminding us that beauty is only skin-deep and that indeed in a charmed life, one might not recognize true happiness?
It's all of these and more. Cameron Crowe shows that there's a lot more one can do with a perpetually-smirking Tom Cruise than "Jerry Maguire" and Phil Dick must be smiling from the grave (or the cryo tank). What's not to love?