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Jerry Maguire Blu-ray Review |
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Jerry Maguire Blu-ray
Sony Pictures | 1996 | 138 mins | Rated R | Sep 09, 2008
Jerry Maguire Blu-ray ReviewCameron Crowe's ode to sports agents is a natural on BluReviewed by Ben Williams, September 9, 2008 Sports movies and "Chick flicks:" two genres that have about as much in common as a tuba and a kangaroo. Or do they? Somewhere out there, towing that line between something like Steel Magnolias and Any Given Sunday lies Jerry Maguire, a strange, hybrid of a film that manages to find its way onto the best-of lists of both men and women. It's the kind of film with a cute kid, a poignant love story and enough gridiron action to make John Madden fumble a cupcake. Somewhere beyond the formula, the memorable quotes and the catchy dialog is a movie that touched a lot of people… does it hold up after all these years? Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) is at the top of his game. He's a sports agent with a giant client list, a beautiful fiancé and a promising future. As Jerry's success grows, he begins to become restless and disgusted by his industry's increasing attitude that their sports clients are nothing more than a paycheck. One fateful night, he puts his thoughts to paper and crafts a lengthy "mission statement" - - he believes he and his fellow agents should take fewer clients, give more personal attention and lobby for their client's health and not just their pay. In short order, Jerry will find himself out of a job with one remaining client, Rob Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.), dumped by his fiancé and left with a lone staff member, Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger). Dorothy believes in Jerry and his new "mission statement" and quickly falls in love with the emotionally wounded man. Can a man who has always been more talk than substance prove himself worthy of her affection?
Jerry Maguire succeeds as a film on several levels. Firstly, as a sports drama / comedy, Jerry's struggles to maintain his sanity in the face of losing everything in his life provide good fodder for many of the film's more dramatic moments. Tom Cruise is excellent at playing, essentially, Tom Cruise. With his toothy grin and unflappable demeanor, Cruise excels at maintaining that megawatt smile in the face of just about every obstacle he faces in the film. Secondly, as a romantic comedy, Jerry Maguire would be just another sports flick without Renee Zellweger and Jonathan Lipnicki. Lipnicki plays Dorothy Boyd's precocious son Ray in a performance that is equal parts cute and sweet. He's really good in the film and does a masterful job of making sure the audience feels a great deal of sympathy for him. Of course, it's hard to say that a 6 year old kid is responsible for so much in a film, but it's a further credit to writer / director Cameron Crowe that Lipnicki's performance comes off so believably. Zellweger provides the emotional center of the film in a tricky performance as a wounded woman who wants to believe that love conquers all. Jerry Maguire is really a story about a group of emotionally wounded people who find each other in their greatest moment of need. You can emphasize "Quan" and "Show me the money" and all the other great catchphrases from the film, but that's just window-dressing for what is, in reality, a very sad story. I suppose at some level that we all see what we want to in a film, but after seeing Jerry Maguire multiple times, the comedic aspects of the story start to fade and the more tragic elements of the story start to come in to play. I won't go into so much detail as to spoil the film for first time viewers, so I'll leave it at that. At any rate, Jerry Maguire really is a great film - - one of Cameron Crowe's best and a film that after 11 years has aged very well. If you are interested in the film for the sports content, the romantic angle or even just the stars present, chances are you won't be disappointed. Video  Sony brings Jerry Maguire to Blu-ray in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 using the AVC Mpeg-4 compression codec. The film's excellent 1080p transfer succeeds wildly in bringing the true look of film into the home environment. As is usually the case with the films he lenses, Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski has given Jerry Maguire a natural, grainy and very high contrast look. For the first time since its theatrical release, Jerry Maguire actually achieves this look in the home. While some viewers might be initially distracted by the somewhat heavy grain in Jerry Maguire, rest assured that this is completely intentional. Mr. Kaminski has put together a large and distinguished body of work where grain has always been at the forefront of the image. This appears to be a stylistic choice that Mr. Kaminski brings to many of his projects. Regardless, film aficionados will likely be thrilled with the very film like image presented on this Blu-ray disc. As far as picture anomalies are concerned, this disc is free from any annoying edge enhancement, compression artifacts and other, distracting problems. Black levels are consistently inky throughout and contrast is presented realistically and smoothly. Jerry Maguire has never looked this good on home video. Recommended! Audio  Jerry Maguire is certainly not a flashy movie in the sound department, but does feature a nice 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio track. Sine this is primarily a dialog driven film, Jerry Maguire really only lights up the surround channels during the film's football scenes. As would be expected, crowd noise and the catcalls and whistles that would normally be heard in a jam-packed stadium are all here. In addition, the occasional track from the film's musical score finds its way to the rear channels. Most importantly in a film such as Jerry Maguire is the ability to never have to worry about missing a line of dialog. Fortunately, Dolby TrueHD makes this a non-issue as every delivery in Jerry Maguire is presented crisply and without a hint of distortion. While this track will hardly wow your friends as demo material, it is a further example of the benefits of lossless audio. Recommended! Supplements  Jerry Maguire comes to Blu-ray with a hodge-podge of special features ported directly from the DVD release. The cast and crew audio commentary offers few surprises other than Cameron Crowe's extremely listenable stories detailing the production. He's a compelling guy to listen to and will definitely entertain. Several deleted scenes as well as a handful of scenes from the film's lengthy rehearsals are also included. Needless to say, these scenes are a little on the light side. A full length Rod Tidwell commercial is included along with a pointless seven minute featurette. Really there's just not much here beyond throwaway fluff. The one bright spot of the set is the inclusion of the full text of Jerry Maguire's Mission Statement. I was happy to see that this "macguffin" from the film actually has some substance to it. Good stuff! Final words Jerry Maguire is a sweet and funny movie with a surprising amount of depth that shows itself with repeated viewings. The performances in the film are very strong with Tom Cruise doing his best impression of himself while Renee Zellweger, Cuba Gooding Jr. and young Jonathan Lipnicki all turn in career performances. Video is naturally presented with an emphasis on recreating the theatrical experience of the film - - down to the last bit of grain. The film's Dolby TrueHD track is subtle with a few moments of directional surround activity and an abundance of well-rendered dialog. Supplements are a bit on the boring side, but the inclusion of the Jerry Maguire Mission Statement is a welcome addition. All told, Jerry Maguire is a nice addition to the Blu-ray stable. It's a great little film and one that stands up remarkably well to repeat viewings. Recommended! 
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