Melodramatic ‘Maguire’ Would Be Better As A TV Film

The plot summary of “Jerry Maguire” sounds a great deal like an advertisement for a TV movie.

A successful businessman has everything going for him - good looks, lots of money, an attractive girlfriend - but he doesn’t feel quite complete. Then his entire world crashes down on him and, when he has to start from scratch, be begins to appreciate different things about life.

And I’m expected to sit through that for two and a half hours? Maybe the first time, but never, ever again.

Frankly, “Jerry Maguire” was an insipid, melodramatic, failed attempt at a romantic comedy that annoyed me.

The first major problem with this film is that the mood was constantly changing from extremely elated to very depressed; sometimes the switch would take place randomly and without merit. All in all, I counted eight transitions between the radically different emotions.

I’ll admit that human emotion isn’t exactly consistent and cinema should be the same way, but this was just way too much. “Jerry Maguire” wasn’t a very complex movie, and it would have taken an extremely complex one to merit such drastic mood changes.

On top of all this, the plot wasn’t all that believable.

The story was sent into motion when, distressed by his profession as a sports agent, Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) sits down and writes a mission statement (or a very long-winded memo, depending on your perspective.)

For the first few days after sending out his mission statement, everyone congratulates him and all seems fine. But before long, Jerry’s evil boss, Bob Sugar, fires him for a reason that we never really find out.

After an extremely pointless scene when Jerry and Bob duke it out for all Jerry’s clients, the title character decides to start a new company on his own. The only person who will leave with him is Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger).

After Jerry breaks up with his girlfriend, the predictable happens, simply setting into motion a formula plot that hits the screen several times every year.

The only good performance in the film is that of Cuba Gooding Jr. He is the one athlete who decides to stay with Maguire, and is by far the most complex character in the film. He is charismatic to a fault and has an attitude to match any over-paid pro in sports today.

Unfortunately, that concludes the list of positive performances. Cruise and Zellweger are both strikingly boring and their romance lacks the chemistry that this movie needed.

For all I know, “Jerry Maguire” would have been a great made-for-TV movie commercial interruptions and all. At least that way I would have had a chance to walk out.

Grade: D