Movies I Love: Jerry Maguire
I’ll admit this. I wouldn’t have even heard of Jerry Maguire if it wasn’t for my obsession for climax scenes in romantic comedies. Back in 12th, I was attempting to write my first script of sorts, and to distinguish myself from the trend of psychological thrillers and crime stories all loosely, based on the Fincher’s Fight Club concept, I decided to write a romantic comedy.
As someone who had just realized that the concept of love in Bollywood was screwed up, I wanted to write a story of romance, without the cliches, without the creepy stalking depicted as love and with a whole lot of character depth. Which brought me to one night, where I was watching a YouTube video titled “Top 10 Unforgettable Movie Declarations of Love”all in an effort to provide a suitable ending to my story, when i stumbled upon the climax scene from Jerry Maguire.
At first, I was thrown off, because I’d mostly seen Tom Cruise in the Mission Impossible Films, Knight and Day, Top Gun and to see him play such a vulnerable character impressed me. I decided, I had to watch the film.
Jerry Maguire, is the story of Jerry (Tom Cruise), a sports agent for the largest sports management firm in America, Sports Management International (SMI). Jerry is 35 years old, has an impressive roster of clients, and a beautiful fiancee.In short, a perfect life. But he still feels incomplete, a lack of purpose.
One night, he realizes that the way his company is looking at players is all wrong. Until that point, he like his other co agents, looked to gain the maximum profit out of a player, by pushing them for higher contracts, more brand deals so that they could make more of a commission. He stays up that night and writes a memo about how the new SMI should look like, with less players and more quality with work. This however, doesn’t go too well with the upper management and he is fired.
Jerry is just able to retain one client in the transition, an aging NFL player Rod Tidwell, played by the talented Cuba Gooding Jr. Tidwell is a player who has seen most of his career go by, and he’s not getting the same kind of attention from clubs and the media anymore, even while being at a reasonably good form.
Jerry is joined by Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellwegger) in his independent venture, with belief in the memo that Jerry wrote. After Jerry loses his job, he also gets into a fight with his fiancee, and they part ways and Jerry finds himself alone, and that’s a rare thing
Jerry’s problem of loneliness, is reflective of a modern problem where people are influenced by the barrage of rom coms, advertisements and come to the conclusion that they are incomplete and only xyz can come along and fill them up. Jerry has multiple breakthroughs within the film, but the major one is to listen to his gut, listen to himself, and do what’s right, even when the easy option is available.
Dorothy Boyd, who follows Jerry in his independent venture, falls in love with Jerry and soon, they have a brief relationship and get married. However, Dorothy realizes soon enough, that Jerry does not want to put work into their marriage, he is only married to her because he wants to feel a sense of completion, some concreteness when his life in other ways is in shambles, and she tells him to take a long hard look and really think about what he wants.
Jerry mulls and thinks about it and in one night, when his independent venture has a big positive outcome, he realizes that even though he seemingly has everything he set out to get, he feels incomplete, and he realizes that his true happiness comes from within. What follows is truly a iconic monologue sequence where Jerry realizes that even though we live in a cynical world, we can be kind to each other and that true happiness comes from sharing successes, failures everything.
What really rounds up the film, is Rod Tidwell’s story. In the beginning, he is man looking for more money and more fame and success and he is hell bent on getting it. He calls it the quan, which is love, respect and dollars all in one. In a futile attempt to get it, he is in a near death experience and that is when he realized his quan was there all along, he never bothered to look at it, because that isn’t what other people told him.
Another lovely reason to love the film, is Cuba Gooding Jr’s Oscar acceptance speech which shows the kind of heart that was put into this film.
At the end, Jerry Maguire, brings an important message and realization. It is one that encourages gratefulness for all that one has, and to do things not because the world tells you to, but because you feel it in your soul.
