When high-powered, wheeling and dealing sports agent Jerry Macguire (Tom Cruise), in a text-book display of cognitive dissonance, writes an inflammatory memo (or mission statement, as he calls it) to his employers condemning the perceived corruption within the sports management business and advocating a policy of fewer clients, better service, he finds himself fired and out on the street without so much as a what-were-you-thinking? With the tacit support of two unlikely allies - a second grade football player he once barely had time for, and a wistful young single mother who quit her job at the agency in solidarity with him - Jerry's road to reinvention begins with his resolve to put into practice at least some of what his infamous memo dared to preach. Written and directed by Cameron Crowe, a one-time Rolling Stone rock music journalist who branched out into directing in 1982 with a screen adaptation of his own best-seller, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, followed by Say Anything (1989) and Singles (1992), Jerry Maguire is an astute, often hilarious look at the moral and monetary complexities involved in maintaining a happy medium between love, honour and loyalty and the unyielding imperatives of good old fashioned crass commercialism. While Cruise's winning performance has already snared him a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination, as the put-upon footballer who just wants Jerry to "show him the money", the terrific Cuba Gooding Jr. has the best supporting Oscar all sown up. In her breakout role, Renee Zellweger is well cast as the single mom who melts Jerry's fickle heart.
