"Jerry Maguire" 1996

"Jerry Maquire"

This movie is a chick flick disguised as a sports movie. 

Some ten years or so ago, I took a screenwriting class.  It was a local adult learning thing.  They held it at my old junior high and it was actually in my eighth grade home room.  This in itself was a surreal experience.  I had written a couple of screenplays and I wanted some inspiration to improve and possibly network. 

The guy running the class had written a period piece about a woman named Ada that had something to do with math or early computers or something like that.  There was a woman who swore she had financing and a firm committment from Anthony Hopkins, aka Hannibal Lector for a movie to shoot on location in Europe.  There was a kid, maybe seventeen or eighteen who had just seen the movie "Crash" and was quoting a line by line remake only set in Iowa. 

I felt like my own research had taught me more than this class, but I'd payed my seventeen dollars and would stick  it out for all four classes.  One night I traded scripts with the teacher.  I went home and did a serious review of his script.  It lackked conflict and had odd bookends to the story that were set in a modern college class that just didn't make sense.

He checked mine for grammar and told me not to use the F word quite so much.  When I asked him what he thought of the story, he admitted he'd only gotten about ten pages in because he was very busy. 

What does this have to do with "Jerry Maguire" you ask?

This man loved Cameron Crowe.  He said the that a good movie sets up the whole story in the first ten minutes.  He showed the first ten minutes in class.  Granted it was the most engrossed the class was for the entire four weeks, so maybe he was right about one thing.

Ironically this movie contains a lot of F words. 



When this movie came out I remember reading an article titled "Who Is Renee Zellweger?"  It was all about big movie stars acting opposite relative newcomers.  Of course Renee blew Tom out of the water on this movie. 



It does drive me crazy that her dress changes from shot to shot during their date.  Just watch the kitchen scene where he picks her up.  It is insane that they let this happen.  I thougth Cameron Crowe was a bit of a stickler about this stuff.



I didn't find the kid that cute either.  He was kind of annoying.  But he did look like he could be Renee's kid. 

I also adore Kelly Preston's tiny part in this movie.



I wish she would do more of this hard edged character.  I love her control.  She would be great in a weekly Showtime series. 

Avery Bishop: There is a sensitivity thing that some people have. I don't have it. I don't cry at movies, I don't gush over babies, I don't buy Christmas presents 5 months early, and I DON'T tell the guy who just ruined both our lives, "Oh, poor baby." But I do love you.

It is a good first ten minutes.




[first lines]
Jerry Maguire: So this is the world, and there are almost six billion people on it. When I was a kid, there were three. It's hard to keep up.

There is great set up and you see Jerry change over the course of the movie.

Plus Cuba Gooding Jr. won best supporting actor for his role.  And he danced. 



Said thank you a few hundred times.



Then he made "Boat Trip".



So sad . But a good movie.