Jerry MaGuire (1996)

I actually really like this movie for some reason.
Jerry MaGuire (Tom Cruise) is a sports agent, a job which is much harder than it looks, being responsible for tons of people and expecting to know their every move and remember everything about them. Though Jerry loves his job, he starts to lose faith in it. After a child told him to screw himself, Jerry got inspired and wrote a manifesto about having less clients. This gets sent out, though Jerry realizes that he made a mistake. Naturally, he is fired by his protege, Bob Sugar (Jay Mohr), at a lunch in a public place no less. He, then, immediately and successfully steals all of Jerry's clients. One, Cushner (Jerry O'Connell) does remain only to screw Jerry over later by signing with Sugar despite the dad (Beau Bridges) saying that his word is as strong as oak. What a load of crap!
The only client that stays with Jerry is the cocky Rod Tidwell (the Oscar-winning Cuba Gooding, Jr.). He is a nice man who loves his wife, Marcy (Regina King) and their young son dearly, but that passion dies before he reaches the field. He is a small player though consistent but he blames everyone else for his problems and extreme lack of money. Jerry needs the money as does his ever loyal employee Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger) who admired him so much that she, despite being a widowed single-mother, left her job to follow him. Jerry likes her but loves her son, Ray (Jonathan Lipnicki). By this time, he broke up with his crazy fiance, Avery (Kelly Preston) who is literally nuts. This leaves Jerry available and because, as his bachelor tape informs the audience, he is simply incapable of being alone. Just before leaving to take a permanent job in San Diego, he proposes to her, though it's more of a business proposal than anything else, all the time Dorothy's disapproving sister, Laurel (Bonnie Hunt) shaking her head in the house.
The marriage is almost immediately in trouble because Jerry didn't follow Rod's advice and have a talk with her about the whole thing. Jerry performs to travel to support his only client and to make sure he doesn't get hurt, which means he won't get paid than stay at home and fix things. Eventually, Dorothy decides to give up but Jerry doesn't fight for her.
Fortunately, this film has a happy ending, with Rod having an amazing game. He is injured after making an excellent catch, but gets up, all the while his wife is freaking out on the phone with Jerry, and launches into a dance. This inspires Jerry to fight for Dorothy and she takes him back, after all, he had her at hello. Rod finally signs a contract that will give him the money her deserves and Ray discovers a talent he didn't know he had.
The film is not perfect, but it goes by quickly (not a small feat for a comedy film clocking in at more than two hours) and the soundtrack goes by unnoticed (except when the au pair gives Jerry a CD for mood music), but the acting, especially Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding, Jr, are fantastic, and the story is an interesting one about the man behind the athletes. The romantic aspects are odd and weak at times, but I root for Dorothy and Jerry to work it out, despite it being an underdeveloped part of the film. Also, look for a quick cameo of the young Drake Bell. Grade: A-