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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Jerry Maguire
Sony/TriStar


9.0

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 9 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for language and sexuality

Starring Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, Kelly Preston, Jerry O'Connell, Jay Mohr, Bonnie Hunt, and Regina King

Maguire (Cruise), a high-powered sports agent, is enchanted by a young mother (Zellweger) who believes in him and oversees the career comeback of his struggling football player client Ron Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.).

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Cameron Crowe
DIRECTED BY:	Cameron Crowe
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 26, 1997 Video: June 26, 1997 Theatrical: December 13, 1996
RUNNING TIME:	138 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Brashly engaging.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Joyous redemptive romantic comedy.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Jerry Maguire is loaded with them: bright, funny, tender encounters between characters who seem so winningly warm and real. [13 December 1996, p.C-1]

Newsweek David Ansen

What sets Jerry Maguire above any other romantic comedy this year is Crowe's writing. He captures the venal, high-stakes world of pro sports with deadly wit and an ex-journalist's sense of detail.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A wholly unexpected film, as heady and surprising in its humor as in its emotional texture.

Time Richard Schickel

Altogether wondrous.

Film.com Tom Keogh

Firmly establishes Crowe as a standard-bearer of original thinking in the dispiritingly redundant state of American cinema. Don't miss this one.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Working from his own original screenplay, Crowe builds a story line full of unexpected twists and digressions.

USA Today Mike Clark

Overstuffed but exuberantly humane.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Magic on celluloid -- fresh, funny, romantic, and upbeat. You'll leave the theater with a smile on your face and perhaps a tear in your eye.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

Lusts for a feel-good ending the material doesn't comfortably provide. One can't help wondering how dismal Jerry and Dorothy's life together will be after the credits roll.

Variety Todd McCarthy

An exceptionally tasty contempo comedic romance.

Film.com Sean Means

It seems like nitpicking to say it, but the weakness of Jerry Maguire is that there's too much to it -- too many things happening at once for a viewer to digest. But with a charming cast like this, having too much isn't such a bad thing.

Slate Sarah Kerr

A surprisingly fresh didactic comedy that preaches the hollowness of glamour and status and the American cult of winning.

Film.com Robert Horton

Once again writer-director Cameron Crowe has gotten all the little details just right.

Film.com John Hartl

The engine that drives Jerry Maguire is Cruise, giving the kind of performance that all but deconstructs his recent series of glib leading-man roles.

TNT RoughCut Graham Verdon

Any minor annoyances are eclipsed by great performances from the entire cast.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Cruise is at the top of his form, and Gooding makes a brilliant opponent.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

What's fascinating is the depth of humanity Cruise finds within the character of Jerry and also Cruise's generosity toward the other actors in the story -- a generosity that allows all the other performers to shine and create vivid and memorable characters.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A hip, funny, knowing romantic sports comedy that gets a little strained when it tries to expose its heart. [13 December 1996, Friday, p.A]

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

Zellweger has the most interesting new face in film, and she knows how to use silences to say what the heart wants to get across.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

There are a couple of moments in Jerry Maguire when you want to hug yourself with delight. Both of those moments involve the actress Renee Zellweger, whose lovability is one of the key elements in a movie that starts out looking cynical and quickly becomes a heartwarmer.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Crowe is too much the good employee to spin the yarn properly, to give the picture the very integrity it endorses. He might have made a more convincing movie had he first convinced himself.

San Francisco Examiner G. Allen Johnson

Now "Rod Tidwell," with Jerry Maguire as a supporting character, would be a movie to pay to see.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

Let's get it out, loud and clear: Jerry Maguire is not a sports movie. It's a stealth chick movie, wrapped in a swaddling of jock stuff so that it gets through guy radar without setting off the missile defenses.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The film is all but crushed by Tom Cruise's screen-hogging demand that everything collapse and swoon around him. If the star gave us more of a rest, we might have more of a movie.

Dallas Observer Michael Sragow

An indictment--a prime example of promising material that's been Cruisified.

TV Guide Frank Lovece

A meandering and deeply shallow tale of spiritual redemption.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Andrew M. gave it an 8:
Renee Zellweger gets this two more points than it would otherwise deserve. It really is a shallow film in parts. Disguised as a romantic comedy-drama, it's really a character study of someone who has little character. Tom Cruise is not likeable for much of the film, even when down on his luck professionally. What saves it is there are enough engaging moments throughout to keep you involved in the story, and of course the gorgeous Zellweger's disarming performance. Well, it must be good because I still get a tear in the eye everytime I watch this film.

Pat C. gave it a 3:
A horse opera of a different color. A thoroughbred saddled with burlap & chintz, then ridden hard on Cruise control straight to the glue factory. In other words, a fresh approach diverted into familiar channels until it has no resemblance to its original impetus. So sad that there are moments of dialogue so fresh, precise and unforgettable. But the film is so heavy handed. Zellweger's initial stand of loyalty to Cruise was so emotionally justifying that I was forced to skip over the basic question of What the hell provoked her to do that? No one is that good of heart in the workplace, where the goal is to, rain on your parade, keep one's job. It's such poor taste to say "Don't patronize me," but that's what I say here, not "I'm stupid take my money again please and pull every string I've got." Impossible to describe in technical terms what happened to this film during its construction without using profanity.

Corey J. gave it a 10:
This is the best movie ever.

Latassia K. gave it a 10:
Very charming. You couldn't help but fall.

Marta gave it a 10:
This is a great movie! It is one of my favourite films ever, and I never get tired of reviewing it again and again... It is always fascinating and wondrous!!!

Ryan M. gave it a 10:
Great, one of the best romantic comdies of all-time. It's also the second best film of the year.

Jerry Maguire Sony/TriStar

Jerry Maguire
Sony/TriStar