as the one client Jerry is able to hang onto, a loudmouthed showoff who demands big money and refuses the offer of a towel in the locker room. There's an uproariously funny performance from Cuba Gooding Jr. Since ''Jerry Maguire'' is a romantic comedy, it handles this transition with exuberant humor. The basic appeal of ''Jerry Maguire,'' pure midlife crisis played with a younger cast, is in watching Jerry become liberated from the rat race and discover a richer new life in the real world. And it affirms the film's sense of freedom.
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Her fetching ordinariness, which happens to be quite extraordinary, brings him down to earth in ways no movie queen could manage. This refreshing actress (who has had small film roles before but now arrives in a big way with ''Jerry Maguire'' and ''The Whole Wide World,'' opening just after Christmas) is an inspired choice to play opposite a dreamboat of Mr. Crowe's great talent is for creating a glow of intimacy around tentative young characters as they find themselves falling in love. The film finds some humor in the speed-dialing war between Jerry and his rival (Jay Mohr) to hang on to clients, but its real strength is not in satirizing the corporate realm. One night he writes a ringing declaration of principle that wins him the applause of his colleagues it also soon brings him the chance to be fired in a crowded restaurant by his former protege. Unfortunately for Jerry, he is not quite cad enough for this line of work. Jerry also tries sweet-talking the son of a football player when the boy pleads: ''Mr. ''Listen, there's no proof of anything except this guy is a sensational athlete,'' Jerry tells the police on behalf of one client. He looks great, talks fast and cares not one whit about the sports stars he represents as a high-powered agent.
Jerry Maguire, when first we meet him, is all about appearances anyhow. Crowe makes clever use of his leading man's golden-boy aspect. Cruise could have been too big a star for this becomingly modest movie, but Mr. Disarming acting, colorful writing and true generosity of spirit keep it right on track. So ''Jerry Maguire'' moves unpredictably through its tale of comeuppance and redemption, but it never loses its bearings. Brooks (''Broadcast News''), one of its producers. As such, it recalls not only the two other sweetly appealing films written and directed by Cameron Crowe (''Say Anything'' and ''Singles''), but also the great shaggy-dog storytelling style of James L. It's a lovely little moment, and ''Jerry Maguire'' is loaded with them: bright, funny, tender encounters between characters who seem so winningly warm and real. Jerry turns his back to Dorothy (Renee Zellweger) as he says this, just long enough for her jaw to drop. WHEN Jerry Maguire, looking like Tom Cruise at his considerable best, shows up unexpectedly at the house of his admiring young business assistant, he mentions that he has suddenly split up with his fiancee.