From #MeToo indictments (Cuba Gooding Jr.) to scientology scandals & Covid-19 fulminations on set (Tom Cruise) to excessive plastic surgery (Renee Zellweger) to fading into cultural irrelevance (Cameron Crowe) to a tragic death due to breast cancer (Kelly Preston) this year, pretty much everyone involved with “Jerry Maguire” (except for Regina King & some smaller bit characters—Jay Mohr / Bonnie Hunt / Jerry O'Connel) has aged neither smoothly nor gracefully.
Nevertheless, as children of the nineties and proud fans of the self-indulgent romanticism of Cameron Crowe flicks, this little film about an unhinged sports agent, a midlife crisis, and the difficulties of confronting the tumultuous daily battles of adulthood in a cutthroat world never ceases to win over even our most cynical, irony-oriented hearts.
Between the flamboyant antics of Cuba Gooding Jr’s Rod Tidwell, the headstrong composure of Regina King’s Marcee Tidwell, the kinky feistiness of Kelly Preston’s Avery Bishop, the earnest quixotism of Renee Zellweger’s Dorothy Boyd, the obligatory cuteness of her son Ray’s loquacious asides about head sizes, and the manic vulnerability of Tom Cruise’s clearly unstable Jerry Maguire, Crowe’s outstanding web of characters undoubtedly live on as one of the most quotable, histrionic, and memorable ensembles from the decade of cinema where Blockbuster Video dominated the industry.
So pull out those dusty VHS tapes from your closet, toss on this obliquely holiday-related movie, enjoy its maudlin majesty, and then listen to our in-depth discussion on everything about there is to say about this film—from the generic music choices to the overtly plastic metaphors to why the swooping sentimentality of its biggest moments still works.
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