Two sports movies in a row? Yep, sounds like me. What I didn’t count on was seeing Jay Mohr‘s face two days in a row, but you know. It’s a small price to pay when sports movies are involved, I guess. This time, we step into a sport that I actually rank as my favourite to watch: American football. The real question is, is Jerry Maguire actually a sports movie? Well, it’s not what I was expecting.
The titular Jerry (played by Tom Cruise) is a sports agent, working chiefly in the NFL. In the beginning, we are presented with a highly successful, confident guy who generally always gets the deal done and takes a significant cut for himself, making the big bucks on the regular. When he has an epiphany that questions his actions, he ends up losing his job and most of his clients. That is, all of them except an egotistical, aging wide receiver named Rod.
I just have one thing to get off my chest before I say anything else. Is it just me, or is that “SHOW ME THE MONEY!” scene not as iconic as everyone wants it to be? In the grand scheme of things, it’s a really insignificant sequence that doesn’t really even fit with the rest of the movie. But whatever.
Look, I didn’t hate it. If you compare Jerry Maguire to Top Gun in the Tom Cruise rankings, then this is easily the better movie. (Come at me if you want but it’s the truth). Yes, it has its moments and it’s not that it’s not entertaining (definitely more entertaining than Top Gun), but good god it’s longer than it needs to be. The first half is miles better than the second too, so it all becomes a bit of a slog in the latter stages. And what’s with that extended kissing on the porch scene? It was just uncomfortable and represents the exact mid-point in which it all becomes just a little too tedious. Sorry you had to go through that, Renée Zellweger.
Aside from pacing and editing-for-length issues, it’s an okay movie. Of course I am biased because of my love for sport and particularly American football, but if there’s even a hint of the NFL draft and player contracts hanging around then you can bet I’ll enjoy it at least a little bit. Sadly, it became a little bit too much about Maguire’s personal struggles and took it too much out of the business side of things for my liking. Maybe the film’s title was a clue.
There’s nothing wrong with it; the performances are good, there’s some good humour, some realistic events and a great soundtrack, but is it as brilliant as I was led to believe? Definitely not. It’s fine, yet never really steps into the memorable sports movie category.
Would I watch it again? Probably not. Would I recommend it to friends? Again… probably not. It was just okay. And I’m not sure I’ve been this middling about a movie in quite some time.
Jerry Maguire is currently available to stream on Sky Cinema and Now TV in the UK.
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Overall Enjoyability Rating: ½
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