Jerry Maguire

Jerry Maguire used to be a typical sports agent: willing to do just about anything he could to get the biggest possible contracts for his clients, plus a nice commission for himself. Then, one day, he suddenly has second thoughts about what he's really doing. When he voices these doubts, he ends up losing his job and all of his clients, save Rod Tidwell, an egomaniacal football player.

Cameron Crowe's romantic sports dramedy earned broad critical favor on release, with Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Renée Zellweger all singled out for their performances. The film's main tension in reviews was whether its warm heart tipped into sentimentality, and whether its sprawling subplots held together — Ebert, for instance, found it admirably earnest but overstuffed.