You see, Jerry's still a hustler. He's still got money on the brain and schmooze in his veins. Tom Cruise has never been better on screen. One reason may be that he's never had a better character to toy with. Jerry Maguire is a complex character packed full of wild bravado and crushing doubt.
Cruise manages to hit all the notes.
His Hollywood pretty-boy image serves him perfectly well here. The supporting cast, on the other hand, is more than up to the challenge of Cruise's star power. Cuba Gooding Jr. can expect his star to rise and his salary to jump after his turn as the brash, bull-headed footballer on the verge of succeeding big or falling hard. Again, a lesser filmmaker could have taken a common direction here. There's enough sports talk and gushy romance to satisfy every patron in the audience.