Reviews

This is one of the cleverest predictable movies of all time, and for my taste the best baseball movie. A great cast, an underdog plot, and one memorable choice after another by the writers and director make this a valentine to the foot soldiers of our national pastime. (Remember, this was 15 years ago.)

The fabulous scoreboard, the hysterical radio play-by-play of Bob Uecker, even the motley occupants of Cleveland sports bars are irresistible hooks to reel us in, after we've been hooked by the motley team of colorful has-beens and never-were's. If this is a formula, it's the right one. I deeply love this movie, and regret not having seen it in its theatrical run. (I've seen it a dozen times since.) I'm sure the audience went wild during that climactic Yankees game! How about that Dorn making a bunch of clutch plays! Didn't you love Cerrano carrying his bat around the bases with him? Jake not dusting off, and pointing, twice...man, I wish I'd been there.

Then there's the little insert, early in the story, about Jake's fantasy of hitting the winning run out of the park. What happened instead when the chips were really down?

Okay, it isn't "poetry" -- it's more of a limerick, know what I mean? Just start with three words: "There once was...." and finish it yourself! I bet you'll finish with a big smile on your face!

This is a movie about the repudiation of cynicism and the affirmation of love. The fact that this message resonates on both the personal and professional levels for each of the main characters, is testimony to a brilliant script, inspired casting and the commitment of every player to this story. Tom Cruise's character, Jerry Maguire, had a personal epiphany. He paid a huge price for it....but gained everything back, and more, because of his innate integrity.

His character both learned lessons and taught lessons, as did Cuba Gooding's Oscar winning character, Rod Tidwell. Jerry and Rod needed each other for opposite reasons, and their respective mates (Renee Zellweger and Regina King) played enormous roles in both men's individual awakening to the big picture. I left the film believing they were such transcendent forces in one anothers' lives that they'd all be friends forever and a day. And it started with Jerry Maguire's personal choice to be a better man.

So sorry if the cynics find that message worthy of ridicule. The world I actually want to live in looks like the world championed by this film.

Everyone in the audience that saw this film with me was shedding tears at the end...tears of regret and rapture at the same time! Regret because the Big Fish had to swim away...rapture that the legacy was all he deserved.

I love this film. I will see it again and I'll buy the DVD the day it is released. I can't wait to see more of this! Thank you Tim!