Jerry Maguire

1996 Comedy

Combining drama, comedy, and romance, Jerry Maguire was a critical and commercial success built on an original script by writer/director Cameron Crowe and an Oscar-nominated performance by Tom Cruise. Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) is an agent with a major sports management firm. He's enthusiastic, successful, a great negotiator and people like him. But it begins to dawn on Jerry that there's something wrong with what he's doing, and not long after a troubling encounter with the son of an injured athlete he represents, Jerry has a serious crisis of conscience. In the midst of a sleepless night, Jerry writes a memo calling on himself and his colleagues to think more about the long-term welfare of the clients they represent and less about immediate profits. While everyone around him applauds the sentiment, Jerry's superiors think his ideas are bad for business; Jerry is fired, and, rather than standing in solidarity with him, his "friends" in the firm scramble like sharks to claim Jerry's clients. At the end of his last day, the only people willing to join Jerry as he strikes out on his own are staff accountant Dorothy (Renee Zellweger), a single mother secretly in love with him, and Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.), a football player whose pride and arrogance have gotten in the way of his reaching his potential. Jerry Maguire earned an Academy Award for Cuba Gooding Jr.'s performance as Tidwell and provided a breakthrough role for Renee Zellweger; it also made "Show me the money!" an unavoidable catchphrase for several months. more..

Director: Cameron Crowe

Starring: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renee Zellweger, Kelly Preston, Jerry O'Connell

Reviews

  • Brashly engaging.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    26 April 2013

  • Overstuffed but exuberantly humane.

    Mike Clark - USA Today

    26 April 2013

  • There are a couple of moments in Jerry Maguire when you want to hug yourself with delight. Both of those moments involve the actress Renee Zellweger, whose lovability is one of the key elements in a movie that starts out looking cynical and quickly becomes a heartwarmer.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    26 April 2013

  • Zellweger has the most interesting new face in film, and she knows how to use silences to say what the heart wants to get across.

    Peter Stack - The San Francisco Chronicle

    26 April 2013

  • A hip, funny, knowing romantic sports comedy that gets a little strained when it tries to expose its heart.

    Michael Wilmington - The Chicago Tribune

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Top Box Office Films

    ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards (1997)

  • Best Actor in a Supporting Role

    Academy Awards (1997)

  • Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture

    American Comedy Awards (1997)

  • Favorite Actor - Comedy/Romance

    Blockbuster Entertainment Awards (1997)

  • Best Child Performance

    Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards (1997)