Jerry Maguire

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 Jerry Maguire [1996] 

Starring: Tom Cruise, Renée Zellweger , Cuba Gooding Jr. 

Direction by Cameron Crowe

Language: English 


After I watched a few good movies from the section, Netflix's critically acclaimed section is my new best friend: expect reviews from movies there. 

I had forgotten that Tom Cruise was once considered by many to be a talented actor: somebody who was a chameleon whose movies did well. This movie, despite its flaws, taught me that the people who think of Tom Cruise as a frontrunner in the industry are not completely crazy. He was very good in the movie - I tend to find it difficult to judge acting and the quality of it, especially where characters play largely comedic or optimistic roles. I feel like a member of the Academy - only capable of recognising very dramatic performances in what tend to be very dark films. 

Renée Zellweger was also great; I really do need to start watching her movies. 

That being said, the movie felt so cliché. It was so stereotypical: girl has a crush on a guy but has some complication in her life, which, in this case was a child from a previous marriage. The guy also has his share of issues. Everything reaches a climactic turning point, where the audience is convinced that the movie will end in a sad way. However, everything is solved at the end of the movie, where both parties realise their flaws and ultimately overcome their differences and become happy together. The only thing that actually differentiated this movie was the the context in which the plot line was set: the plot was trite but the background of high-publicity sport and cutthroat competition was interesting to see, I guess. 

The messages conveyed by the movie: those of finding your true self and understanding the meaning of life, whilst important, were just boring to watch! These messages are so overdone. and especially when you couple this with the fact that the movie's plot was generic means that it was a little lackluster. You would think that after all these years, writers would find different ways to approach telling a message that it so prominent in the film industry.

The movie also dragged a little in places: the ending felt to drawn out to te point where I was tempted to just turn it off. All the waiting for what? I boring ending. It was cute to see the blossoming of a love story, but at what cost?

I really do not think that this is a very worthwhile movie to watch. 

5/10 



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