Jerry Maguire

Jerry Maguire is a 1996 American sports comedy-drama film directed, written, by Cameron Crowe. It was produced by Crowe and James L. Brooks for Gracie Films and distributed by TriStar Pictures. It stars Tom Cruise as the sports agent Jerry Maguire, alongside Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, Kelly Preston, Jerry O'Connell, Jay Mohr, Bonnie Hunt and Regina King. It was released in North American theaters on December 13, 1996.
Jerry Maguire was inspired by an experience the sports agent Leigh Steinberg, a technical consultant for the film, had with the client Tim McDonald during the 1993 NFL season when free agency was introduced. The film was also partly inspired by a 28-page memo written at Disney in 1991 by Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Jerry Maguire received positive reviews for its performances and screenplay. It grossed more than $273 million worldwide against its $50 million budget. It was the ninth-highest-grossing film of 1996. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Cruise, with Cuba Gooding Jr. winning Best Supporting Actor. It received nominations for three Golden Globes, with Cruise winning for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, with Gooding winning Best Supporting Actor.
Jerry Maguire gained a cult following and has spawned several catchphrases into popular culture, such as "Show me the money!" and "You had me at 'Hello'", "You complete me", and "Help me help you".
== Plot ==
Jerry Maguire is a slick 35-year-old sports agent working for Sports Management International (SMI). After criticism from an injured player's son triggers a life-altering epiphany, he writes a mission statement about perceived dishonesty in the sports management business and his desire to work with fewer clients to produce a better, more caring personal relationship with them.
In response, SMI management sends Bob Sugar, Jerry's protégé, to fire him. This spurs both men to each call all of Jerry's clients to try to convince them not to hire the services of the other. Jerry speaks to Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell, one of his clients who is disgruntled with his contract. He needs a $10 million contract for his family to live on. Jerry informs him if he gets injured for the season, he will get no money from the Cardinals. Rod tests Jerry's resolve through a very long telephone conversation, during which Bob Sugar persuades the rest of Jerry's clients to stick with SMI.
Leaving the office, Jerry announces that he will start his own agency and asks if anyone will join him, to which only 26-year-old single mother Dorothy Boyd agrees. Frank "Cush" Cushman, a superstar quarterback prospect who expects to be the number one pick in the NFL Draft, initially also stays with Jerry after he makes a visit to the Cushman home. However, Sugar persuades Cushman and his father to sign with SMI over Jerry the night before the draft.
After an argument Jerry breaks up with his disgruntled fiancée Avery. He then turns to Dorothy, becoming closer to her young son, Ray, and starts a romantic relationship with her. Dorothy contemplates moving to San Diego as she has a secure job offer there; however, she and Jerry then decide to get married.
Jerry concentrates all his efforts on Rod, now his only client, who turns out to be very difficult to satisfy. Over the next several months, the two direct harsh criticism towards each other with Rod insisting that Jerry is not trying hard enough to get him a contract while Jerry contends that Rod is not proving himself worthy of the money for which he demands; one point of contention is that Rod is not very likable and comes across as aloof to the fans.
Rod takes Jerry's advice to prove he is worthy of his contract. He is playing well and his team is winning. Jerry's marriage with Dorothy deteriorates as she notices he seems crazier about Ray than her, so they separate.
During a December Monday Night Football game between the Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys, Rod plays well but appears to receive a serious injury when catching a winning touchdown, securing a spot for the Cardinals in the playoffs. He recovers and dances for the wildly cheering crowd.
Afterwards, Jerry and Rod embrace in front of other athletes and sports agents and show how their relationship has progressed from a strictly business one to a close personal one, which was one of the points Jerry made in his mission statement. He then flies back home to meet Dorothy, telling her that he loves her and wants her in his life, which she reciprocates.
Rod appears on Roy Firestone's sports show. Unbeknownst to him, Jerry has secured him an $11.2 million contract with the Cardinals, allowing him to finish his pro football career in Arizona. The emotional Rod proceeds to thank everyone and extends warm gratitude to Jerry. Jerry speaks with several other pro athletes, some of whom have read his earlier mission statement and respect his work with Rod. Ray throws a baseball in the air which surprises Jerry. He then speaks of Ray's possible future sports industry career with Dorothy.
== Cast ==
As themselves:
Cameron Crowe originally wrote the screenplay for Tom Hanks. Crowe took so long to write the screenplay that by the time the film was ready to be made, he thought Hanks was too old to play the part. page 134 Woody Harrelson was offered the role but turned it down. Rod Tidwell was partially modeled after Charley Taylor.
Janet Jackson auditioned and was initially accepted for the role of Marcee Tidwell, though it later went to Regina King, who previously co-starred in Jackson's debut film Poetic Justice. Jackson is referenced twice in the film, with a Janet poster seen hanging in Teepee's room and Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character Rod Tidwell asking "What Have You Done for Me Lately?", paying homage to Jackson's hit of the same name.
Artie Lange filmed a scene for the movie but it was edited out of the final cut.
Patricia Arquette, Kate Beckinsale, Bridget Fonda, Winona Ryder, Marisa Tomei, Cameron Diaz, Uma Thurman and Jennifer Lopez were all considered for the part of Dorothy. Mira Sorvino was also considered for Dorothy but the producers would not meet her quote. The producers also considered Janeane Garofalo for the role of Dorothy but she was deemed too old for the part. Connie Britton auditioned for the role of Dorothy, and the choice was narrowed down to Zellweger and Britton, with Zellweger winning the part. Damon Wayans and Mykelti Williamson were considered for the role of Rod Tidwell. Jamie Foxx unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Rod Tidwell. Diane Lane was considered for the role of Avery Bishop; however, the role was eventually given to Kelly Preston. Billy Wilder was considered for the part of Jerry's mentor Dicky Fox.
== Soundtrack ==
Jerry Maguire was scored by Crowe's then-wife, Nancy Wilson, a member of the rock band Heart. Songwriter Aimee Mann recorded a song, "Wise Up", to be used in the film, but Crowe felt it did not fit. According to Crowe, he had used Mann's original version, a simple demo piano, in a scene in which Jerry Maguire is moving through an airport. Mann's final version was "larger, more lush, more of a personal epic, and quite incredible... suddenly it was too big for the scene it was meant for." He said not being able to use it was "heartbreaking". The song was included on the Jerry Maguire soundtrack and later used in the 1999 film Magnolia.
"Secret Garden", originally a Bruce Springsteen track from 1995, was re-released in 1997 after its exposure in the film and on the soundtrack, and reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100.
== Product placement ==
TriStar received merchandise and marketing services of over $1.5 million from Reebok in exchange for incorporating a commercial into the film and depicting the Reebok brand within certain agreed-upon standards; when the film was theatrically released, the commercial had been left out and a tirade including "broadsides against Reebok" was included. When the film aired on television, the Reebok commercial had been embedded into the film as originally agreed upon. The "Special Edition" DVD release of the film, which has the film's theatrical edit, includes the commercial as bonus content.
== Release ==
=== Box office ===
Jerry Maguire debuted at number one above Mars Attacks!, earning $17,084,296 during its opening weekend. The film would earn the second-highest December opening weekend at the time of its release, behind Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. It eventually grossed $153,952,592 in North American box office and approximately $119.6 million internationally for a $273,552,592 worldwide total, on a budget of $50 million.
It was the ninth top-grossing film of 1996 and the fourth highest-grossing romantic drama film of all time.
=== Critical response ===
On Rotten Tomatoes, Jerry Maguire has an approval rating of 84% based on reviews from 90 critics, with an average score of 7.8/10. Its consensus states: "Anchored by dazzling performances from Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Renée Zellweger, as well as Cameron Crowe's tender direction, Jerry Maguire meshes romance and sports with panache." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 77 out of 100 based on reviews from 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
Cuba Gooding Jr. won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Rod Tidwell, the Arizona Cardinals football player who sticks with Maguire. Cruise was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role and the movie marked Renée Zellweger's breakout role. The film itself was nominated for Best Picture, and crew members on the film were nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing awards.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, writing that there "are so many subplots that Jerry Maguire seems too full" and also commented that the film "starts out looking cynical and quickly becomes a heartwarmer." Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote "An exceptionally tasty contempo comedic romance, Jerry Maguire runs an unusual pattern on its way to scoring an unexpected number of emotional, social and entertaining points. Smartly written and boasting a sensational cast, Cameron Crowe's shrewdly observed third feature also gives Tom Cruise one of his very best roles..."
Former Green Bay Packers vice president Andrew Brandt said that the film "accurately portrayed the cutthroat nature of the agent business, especially the lengths to which agents will go to retain or pilfer clients. It also captured the financial, emotional and psychological investment that goes far beyond negotiating contracts."
=== Accolades ===
Association 	Category 	Recipient 	Result
Academy Awards 	Best Picture 	James L. Brooks, Cameron Crowe, Laurence Mark and Richard Sakai	
Academy Awards 	Best Actor 	Tom Cruise 	
Academy Awards 	Best Supporting Actor 	Cuba Gooding Jr. 	
Academy Awards 	Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen 	Cameron Crowe 	
Academy Awards 	Best Film Editing 	Joe Hutshing 	
American Comedy Awards 	Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture 	Cuba Gooding Jr. 	
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards 	Top Box Office Films 	Nancy Wilson 	
Awards Circuit Community Awards 	Best Motion Picture 	James L. Brooks, Cameron Crowe, Laurence Mark and Richard Sakai	
Awards Circuit Community Awards 	Best Director 	Cameron Crowe 	
Awards Circuit Community Awards 	Best Actor in a Leading Role 	Tom Cruise 	
Awards Circuit Community Awards 	Best Actor in a Supporting Role 	Cuba Gooding Jr. 	
Awards Circuit Community Awards 	Best Actress in a Supporting Role 	Renée Zellweger 	
Awards Circuit Community Awards 	Best Original Screenplay 	Cameron Crowe 	
Awards Circuit Community Awards 	Best Film Editing 	Joe Hutshing 	
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards 	Favorite Actor – Comedy/Romance 	Tom Cruise 	
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards 	Favorite Supporting Actor – Comedy/Romance 	Cuba Gooding Jr. 	
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards 	Favorite Supporting Actress – Comedy/Romance 	Renée Zellweger 	
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 	Best Supporting Actor 	Cuba Gooding Jr. 	
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 	Most Promising Actress 	Renée Zellweger 	
Critics Choice Awards 	Best Picture 	Best Picture 	
Critics Choice Awards 	Best Actor 	Tom Cruise 	
Critics Choice Awards 	Best Supporting Actor 	Cuba Gooding Jr. 	
Critics Choice Awards 	Best Child Performance 	Jonathan Lipnicki 	
Critics Choice Awards 	Breakthrough Artist 	Renée Zellweger 	
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards	Best Picture 	Best Picture 	
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Actor 	Cuba Gooding Jr. 	
Directors Guild of America Awards 	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures 	Cameron Crowe 	
Empire Awards 	Best Director 	Cameron Crowe 	
European Film Awards 	Screen International Award 	Cameron Crowe 	
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 	Best Actor 	Tom Cruise 	
Golden Globe Awards 	Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy 	Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy 	
Golden Globe Awards 	Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy 	Tom Cruise 	(returned)
Golden Globe Awards 	Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture 	Cuba Gooding Jr. 	
Hochi Film Awards 	Best Foreign Language Film 	Cameron Crowe 	
Humanitas Prize Awards 	Feature Film 	Cameron Crowe 	
Motion Picture Sound Editors Awards 	Best Sound Editing – ADR 	Best Sound Editing – ADR 	
MTV Movie Awards 	Best Movie 	Best Movie 	
MTV Movie Awards 	Best Male Performance 	Tom Cruise 	
MTV Movie Awards 	Best Breakthrough Performance 	Renée Zellweger 	
MTV Video Music Awards 	Best Video from a Film 	"Secret Garden" – Bruce Springsteen 	
NAACP Image Awards 	Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture 	Cuba Gooding Jr. 	
National Board of Review Awards 	Top Ten Films 	Top Ten Films 	
National Board of Review Awards 	Best Actor 	Tom Cruise 	
National Board of Review Awards 	Breakthrough Performance 	Renée Zellweger 	
National Society of Film Critics Awards 	Best Supporting Actress 	Renée Zellweger 	
New York Film Critics Circle Awards 	Best Actor 	Tom Cruise 	
Online Film & Television Association Awards 	Best Comedy/Musical Picture 	James L. Brooks, Cameron Crowe, Laurence Mark and Richard Sakai	
Online Film & Television Association Awards 	Best Actor 	Tom Cruise 	
Online Film & Television Association Awards 	Best Comedy/Musical Actor 	Tom Cruise 	
Online Film & Television Association Awards 	Best Supporting Actor 	Cuba Gooding Jr. 	
Online Film & Television Association Awards 	Best Original Screenplay 	Cameron Crowe 	
Online Film & Television Association Awards 	Best Adapted Song 	"Secret Garden" – Bruce Springsteen 	
PEN Center USA West Literary Awards 	Screenplay 	Cameron Crowe 	
People's Choice Awards 	Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture 	Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture 	
Satellite Awards 	Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy 	Tom Cruise 	
Satellite Awards 	Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy 	Cuba Gooding Jr. 	
Satellite Awards 	Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy	Renée Zellweger 	
Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role 	Tom Cruise 	
Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role 	Cuba Gooding Jr. 	
Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role 	Renée Zellweger 	
Writers Guild of America Awards 	Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen 	Cameron Crowe 	
Young Artist Awards 	Best Performance in a Feature Film – Actor Age Ten or Under 	Jonathan Lipnicki 	
YoungStar Awards 	Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film 	Jonathan Lipnicki 	
The film's screenplay was later voted the 66th greatest ever written in a poll by the Writers Guild of America.
=== Home media ===
Jerry Maguire was first released on VHS and LaserDisc on May 29, 1997. 
It is the best-selling non-Disney VHS tape of all time. Over 3 million copies were sold during its first week of release. It was re-released on VHS in the late 1990s. In its first week of release on VHS to stores and video stores in 1997, it made $80 million in sales and $7.6 million in rentals. The $80 million was split between video dealers and Columbia TriStar Home Video.
The film was first released onto DVD on June 24, 1997 and around 2002 respectively in both a standard edition and a two-disc "Special Edition". While the standard edition contains no special features, the two-disc edition primarily includes deleted scenes, commentary tracks, featurettes, and a music video for Bruce Springsteen's "Secret Garden". The film was later released on Blu-ray on September 9, 2008, with the same special features found on the second disc of the "Special Edition" DVD. In 2008, the film was triple-packed with A Few Good Men and Born on the Fourth of July by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment/Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in the United Kingdom only. The film was double-featured with Cliffhanger via DVD in 2008 and also double-featured with A Few Good Men via DVD on December 29, 2009. The film was also chosen to be released in 4K as part of the Columbia Classics Collection: Volume 1 4K Ultra HD box set alongside Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Dr. Strangelove, Lawrence of Arabia, Gandhi, and A League of Their Own on June 16, 2020.
== Legacy ==
Jerry Maguire spawned several popular quotations, including "Show me the money!" (shouted repeatedly in a phone exchange between Rod Tidwell and Jerry Maguire), "You complete me" , "Help me help you," "The key to this business is personal relationships" and "You had me at 'hello'" (said by Renée Zellweger's Dorothy Boyd after a lengthy romantic plea by Jerry Maguire), and "Kwan," a word used by Cuba Gooding Jr.'s Tidwell meaning love, respect, community, and money (also spelled "quan" and "quawn") to illustrate the difference between himself and other football players: "Other football players may have the coin, but they won't have the 'Kwan'." These lines are largely attributed to Cameron Crowe, director and screenwriter of the film. Zellweger said of filming the famous "hello" line, "Cameron had me say it a few different ways. It's so funny, because when I read it, I didn't get it–I thought it was a typo somehow. I kept looking at it. It was the one thing in the script that I was looking at going, 'Is that right? Can that be right? How is that right?' I thought, 'Is there a better way to say that? Am I not getting it? I just don't know how to do it.'"Lovece, Frank. "Renee Zellweger talks about 'My One and Only'", Newsday, August 26, 2009. WebCitation archive. Brandt stated in 2014 that "I definitely noticed an uptick of young people becoming interested in the agent business after Jerry Maguire". "Some of what happened to the agent industry would have happened without 'Jerry,' but definitely not as fast as it did," noted Peter Schaffer, who has been a sports agent since 1988.
In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten Top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Jerry Maguire was acknowledged as the tenth best film in the sports genre. It was also voted by AFI as #100 on its list of 100 Passions. The quotes "Show me the money!" and "You had me at 'hello'" were also ranked by AFI on its list of 100 Movie Quotes, ranked #25 and #52 respectively.
American Film Institute Lists
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – #100
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
** "Show me the money!" – #25
** "You had me at 'hello'." – #52
* AFI's 10 Top 10 – #10 Sports Film
In June 2010, Entertainment Weekly named Jerry Maguire one of the 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years.
In 2017, the NFL produced two "A Football Life" mockumentaries to commemorate the film's 20th anniversary edition; they portray the careers of Rod Tidwell and Frank Cushman after the events of the film. Beau Bridges, Jay Mohr, Jerry O'Connell, and Aries Spears reprised their roles from the film, along with Roy Firestone and several real-life sports figures, including Shaquille O'Neal. According to the fictional history, Cushman retired after only four years due to a severe case of athlete's foot, and devoted himself to charity work with children with the same affliction; Tidwell was offered an even more lucrative contract, but declined, declaring that the "quan" was not there, and he preferred to devote more time to his family. The Tidwell mockumentary also features an adult Ray Boyd, inspired by Jerry and Rod to own his own boxing gym.
== Sequel ==
In a February 2021 interview, Crowe said he had considered making a sequel to Jerry Maguire and that he had been approached several times about making a TV series adaptation of the film. In both cases, he felt that any continuation of the film's story should focus on Rod Tidwell and his family life with wife Marcee.
== See also ==
* List of films featuring the deaf and hard of hearing
* List of American football films
== References ==
== External links ==
* 
* 
* 
* The Jerry Maguire Journal, a log kept by Crowe during the film's production and published in Rolling Stone in December 1996.
* "Things we think and do not say", the memo that led Maguire to establish his own agency. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012.
* Jerry Maguire, film script (text document)
* Leigh Steinberg (the agent based on Jerry Maguire) talks about Cameron Crowe and the film
Category:1996 films
Category:1996 comedy-drama films
Category:1996 romantic comedy-drama films
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Category:1990s English-language films
Category:Fictional talent agents
Category:Films directed by Cameron Crowe
Category:Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe winning performance
Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award-winning performance
Category:Films produced by James L. Brooks
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