Jerry Maguire: Review By Daveactor7

One of those great movies that delve deep into one's mind and character

The story- a sports agent, Jerry Maguire, comes to terms with an attack by his own conscience which makes him quit being a big timing sports agent and work his way back up by making his own agency and ultimately this helps him to grow into a person who learns what love really is and what life is really all about. A great intriguing story and it definitely puts a lot to the mind. Screenwriter and director of this film, Cameron Crowe does a marvelous job creating a world viewed from the perspective of a troubling big shot.

The acting-Tom Cruise gives his best performance ever as Jerry Maguire. He portrays his character so well. His character's metamorphosis-being a big shot to becoming a man filled with love and knows what his life is all about. He gives so much emotion and sanity into his character that we can somewhat relate to him. A great performance that garnered him an oscar nomination. Cuba Gooding Jr. as Rod Tidwell is amazing. He portrays a football player who grows to becoming a stronger man with Maguire's help and friendship. A performance that will bring him his first oscar. Renee Zellweger plays Dorothy Boyd who follows Maguire out of their big sports agency to working their way back up to the top. She does so well in evolving her character, who is challenged by love for him. She also does a great performance as one trying to get past obstacles in life. The entire cast is excellent and I give props to Cameron Crowe who creates such a realistic script full of drama, wit, humor, and romance that it is almost impossible not to love his work there.

The directing-Crowe also directs this film and amazingly, he gets so much from his actors that they all give great performances. His screenplay also helps them to feel the realism in their situations. He also does excellent in pulling off a film that delves deep into the human mind, a concept which is difficult to do.

The visuals-well not much to see here. The cinematography is good and it does well in conveying much of the character's emotions. Janusz Kaminski does well in doing closeups and POVs. He does well in those two main aspects and that is enough for a film that mostly deals with an emotional aspect. I also love the lighting in this film as it does well in portraying more mood into each character. My favorite shot from this film was when Dorothy is walking away from Maguire who is looking up at her with a depressing look upon his face and the lighting is dim and the light is mainly on his face. A great shot that expresses more of the sadness on his face. I wish Kaminski could have delved deeper into discovering or using more shots that could keep the emotional consistency. Not bad however.

The music is done well, though I could not find any composer to this film, the music were from various artists and these songs were great in describing each character, adding to show who they really are and how they feel.

Overall-a classic and definitely a film that really gets you thinking about what life means for you.