June 9, 2025 • 15 mins
In our episode on Jerry Maguire, we dive into Tom Cruise and Cameron Crowe’s genre-blending masterpiece as both a rom-com and sports drama that dissects the emotional and professional crash out of a self-interested man. Alongside this, we break down the broader arc of Cruise’s career—from 1980s heartthrob to 1990s dramatic powerhouse to post-2000s action icon—and how Jerry Maguire stands at a critical turning point: a film that bridges the emotional vulnerability of his early work with the self-aware myth-making of his later persona.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:17):
Hello, welcome to the Extra Credits plus of Cameron Crows
and Tom Cruise's Jerry Maguire. I'm Trey and I'm Kelsey.
I almost said Jerry fucking McGuire.
And I'm Jerry. What is it muh fucking Guire?
What is it muh fucking? McGuire, What scene?
Isn't that where his fiance is? Like you're you're the king.
(00:38):
Of the living, yeah. Yeah, it's Mick Fucking.
Guire. That's sick yeah should have
kept that. This is a 1996 genre blending
classic, one of the most re watchful movies we've ever
covered on Patreon. Part sports movie, part ROM com,
Yeah, part existential identity crisis about living life in a
(01:00):
cynical, cynical world. And I think the best way I can
sum this movie up is the one quote from Jerry in this movie,
which is when he walks through his office after losing all of
his clients and he goes, I'm notgoing to do what you all think
I'm going to do. Which is just flip out great Tom
(01:23):
Cruise work. Incredible Cruise in this film,
just insane shit for my guy, especially from what we know
about him for the next 10 years after this just wildly self
aware movie on his part. So we'll we'll get into that in
just a second. I think we're just going to jump
in. I don't know if we're putting
these movies on the main feed anymore.
So I don't think we're going to do like 10:15 to start off where
(01:45):
we just kind of like Vamp. I think this is going to be on
Patreon, if that makes sense. So usually we.
But how will people in the main feed know what we're doing on
Patreon? Shouldn't we?
We're. Going to start doing I think end
of month episodes where we just talk about what we covered this
month, what we watched, what's on Patreon instead of doing the
samples. That's the goal.
I don't want to put anything else on the main feed that's
Patreon related. It's just too much work on my
(02:07):
end in the number one boy episodes.
Now with the Living Plus episodes, it's just too much
work. I'm doing like YouTube reviews
that are solo, they're coming up.
So like, I just don't want to doit.
I just don't want to do it anymore, you know?
What I mean? If our Patreon numbers start
going down because we don't put sample episodes on, then I'll
put them back. But like, people can go to
Patreon to find the samples. There's 5 minutes.
Fair enough, fair enough. That's what I have to say to
everyone because everyone is listening.
(02:29):
To this is hard. OK, Rachel.
Senate Spotty, Spotty. Three OK, on Show Me the money,
we'll start the movie 321 Show Me the money.
All right, we're played. Let's do this.
I don't think we've ever talked about Cruise on Patreon before.
(02:50):
I don't think so it. Feels wild it.
Doesn't mean we've definitely like referenced the firm, like
referenced a few good men, sure.So we have in a way, but not
like a serious conversation, no.Right.
So is Tom Cruise our shared favorite blockbuster actor?
(03:14):
Is it Tom or is it Denzel? That's really the question.
It's one of those two, 'cause I'm not 'cause I'm not talking
about like favorite actor of alltime, 'cause we have a lot of
different favorite actors. Go listen to our Ocean's 11
recasting episode where we basically try to recast the
movie in a very biased way wherewe just start naming our twenty
favorite actors that are all from the ages of like 30 to 50.
(03:37):
But in terms of like blockbusteractors, actors that made us as
90s babies excited to throw on TNT at home and not just like at
a hotel where most people were forced to watch movies that were
always running on TBSTNT or USA Network.
Jerry Maguire being one of the greats.
I think people are watching those at home.
OK, too. We were certainly so but Denzel
(03:59):
through like the Tony Scott films and and Tom Cruise through
the Tony Scott films and all theother, you know, 90s stylist
directors they worked with. I feel like those are are two.
Favorites. Yeah.
I I think it's just really like what kind of mood am I in Like
Tom Cruise tends to do more pulpy right like even the firm
feel serious. But is this like John Grisham,
(04:20):
which of course like Denzel has done too, but Denzel will play
like maybe more serious roles and then where he's like
investigating something and Tom Cruise does this really
interesting thing where he has like this energy of being
unaware of something that's happening.
(04:41):
It's almost like people are informing him of the world and
you're like kind of watching himbe sort of aloof.
It's. Always like a Truman Show thing
with him, yeah. Or a matrix thing.
So it really depends on what vibe I I want from like a movie,
right? So that's why I'm struggling to
say like a particular person. But yeah, I definitely think
like Tom Cruise, Denzel, Julia Roberts are our main share.
(05:06):
Like blockbuster Keanu. Reeves for me, like there,
there, there's a tear. I think of like a blockbuster
actors from like 95 to 2005. That really hit me somewhere.
I think Keanu Reeves, while I love him, is definitely like
more you, but you've convinced me over the years.
Just got to watch speed piano ona bus cut saving people on a
bus. It is it's it's a great.
(05:26):
Talking to Sandy Bullock. I mean guys, it's wild that we
got to do that on the Patreon 1000%.
It is actually like, I mean, it was a great movie you know to
watch on cable growing up, but really holds up.
Absolutely. Tom Cruise 1996, recovering 2 of
his movies from this year. Mission Impossible, Jerry
Maguire, both films we're in thetop ten highest grossing movies
(05:49):
of 1996. So this is a huge year for
Cruise. When we were picking what Cruise
we should do for Patreon for TomCruise month in April, we went
through like 15 different films.We could not choose.
We were going to do a vote. And then I was like, you know
what? I think Jerry Maguire's the end
to Tom Cruise as this young up and coming next great
(06:09):
independent to feature film actor and then 96 also being the
end of Tom Cruise as we know him.
And then he just becomes Ethan Hunt for the rest of his life
for the most part, which is finetoo.
I love Ethan Hunt, but it reallyis kind of a interesting peak.
It is the IT is the peak and thebeginning of the fall, I think,
but the fall still high highs, higher highs than most people
(06:30):
like Tom Cruise hasn't hit like there is a floor in his career
and we'll get to it in just a second.
But like before this movie, he had done like a few good men
were born on the 4th of July, the color of money, like just
bangers. So he is, I think I know you.
You struggled to say who your favorite blockbuster actor.
For me, he is like my favorite dramatic, emotionally exposed,
(06:52):
volatile mainstream actor of my lifetime.
Like he just is that person. I think when I was a teenager it
was becoming Jake Gyllenhaal, which I think is an interesting
conversation. Like who?
Who took? Tom Cruise spot.
Even though Tom Cruise still hasTom Cruise's spot.
That makes sense, but who tried?I think Gyllenhaal's probably.
(07:15):
Gyllenhaal's really interesting because when I think of Tom
Cruise, I think of the, like yousaid, this person who's able to
capture a volatility and there'sa comedy, but also really like
serious dramatic, like what? This thing is affecting me so
much capturing in a performance on screen that Jake Gyllenhaal
(07:37):
really does so well. He's very weird and kind of has
crazy eyes like Tom. Cruise, there's a Mania, there's
a delusional. Aspect their faces.
There's always an identity crisis, like you're watching
them in their careers and it's like what's going on with your
personal life? You have a lot of questions.
Some of those questions actuallyget answered for you, for
Cruise's part. But Gyllenhaal, we're still
(07:59):
wondering, I think, like what's going on with him well.
OK, but that's also a really interesting because Gyllenhaal
was in movies that were way moreserious and then now is going
into like Mission Impossible Zone or, you know, like whatever
he he's done like Roadhouse and.Yeah, my guy was in Brokeback,
(08:20):
Brokeback Mountain, Zodiac Prisoners.
And then he was like, Nah, I'm just going to be dog whistling
for certain audiences in the theaters to do action films like
I'm Jason Statham, Like, brother, what are we doing?
And it does feel like Tom Cruiseis like, not going to that B
movie level, but he's really stuck with like, action
franchise films for the past 15 years.
(08:40):
So again, we'll talk about that.But Jerry Maguire, I think one
of our shared favorite rewatchable movies of all time.
What is it about Jerry Maguire that you love?
And I know we just kind of talked about this with the
apartment, but let's just assumepeople do not back-to-back these
episodes. So it's OK to repeat ourselves
here. Yeah, I think that Jerry
Maguire, like you said, is a ROMcom, a sports movie.
(09:04):
But really like the the romance between Rod and Jerry is what
keeps me coming back to the movie.
I think that is why it's so rewatchable.
Totally agree. Yeah, it is like a a friendship
movie. They're they are in love and
hate one another, you know, and there's something I think about
(09:24):
Rod that Jerry wishes he had. It's not just the Quan, even
though I think that's the through line of the movie in
terms of like family, community,money.
I think respect, like those things Cruz feels like he
doesn't have though. He has, like, this elite status
and all the things, you know, commodities he thinks he would
want. He feels empty inside.
That was kind of what we talked about with The Apartment, which
(09:46):
is like how Billy Wilder made a movie that is really like an
economic satire that turns into a social satire.
That's sort of Jerry Maguire, right?
It's this guy who's been hollowed out, begins to question
the cost of being successful in a corporate world.
He's like, and I'm going to write a memo.
I'm sorry. A mission statement.
It's actually a mission statement.
(10:06):
Who can relate? We'll get into all of that.
I thought it would be fun to begin our conversation with the
career of Tom Cruise. I don't really want to do like a
ranking. I feel like because Mission
Impossible, the final reckoning,is that what it's called or it's
a dead reckoning, final reckoning?
I don't know, Dead reckoning. I never know the titles of those
ones. Tom Cruise versus AI was dead
(10:28):
reckoning. Tom Cruise versus AI Part 2 is
called the final reckoning. I see that here.
I think we can do a Tom Cruise ranking or Tom Cruise movie
draft as a separate, like main feed episode.
Yeah, 'cause sometimes we step on that on Patreon.
We're like, let's just do rankings.
Yeah. I think it would be fun to go
through his career through the different eras since the 80s.
In this episode. In this episode right now and
(10:49):
just kind of almost like prepareourselves for that deeper, more
thorough cruise. Yeah, yeah, debate.
I think that's good. Also, though, I, I think you
should, before we go into that, like talk about why, because you
kind of just said it on the apartment.
I thought it was a, a great point.
Why you feel like this is so rewatchable tonally?
(11:10):
Oh, and as far as like this, being like somebody having an
existential crisis and going from like these absurd comic
elements to these human moments to these serious moments.
Yeah, because I think it was just a good point in terms of
like we we said that's what the apartment did well.
And you were saying like that isactually like feels like the
most inspiration that Crow got from Wilder, right, Was like
(11:31):
this tonal, the ability to to shift between this like
workplace comedy to like a kind of more dramatic, but still like
within this comedic tone of of Dorothy and Cruz's character.
But yeah, I think like that's ultimately the why it is so re
watchable is like, I forget every time we watch this movie
(11:54):
that certain things happen. And I think it's because there
are so many different like side stories going on almost that I
just and there's a lot of kind of little emotional hits that
are layered throughout the wholemovie that you're like, Oh yeah,
like this is awesome. And you're you just like can't
stop watching once you come intothe movie.
(12:17):
Like it is, it feels like when we're re watching it, you know,
we often rewatch movies for the podcast.
This is 1 where I was like it's so easy to like consume.
Oh yeah. I think one of the reasons is
it's produced by James L Brooks.Like obviously made by Cameron
Crowe, who is a great film makerin his own right.
And Almost Famous is an excellent film.
(12:38):
Say anything? Excellent film.
Aloha Horrible film but that youknow that 90s career Kelsey.
Missed my Aloha comment but it'sOK.
I saw you watching the movie because I know how much you hate
Aloha as well. But the 90s of Crow in late 80s
to 90s is just so excellent. But in terms of why this movie
(13:00):
really hits for me and why the apartment hit in a similar way,
is it just kind of like satirizing the ways in which
we're all just trying to find meaning in our lives and purpose
and how that the tragicomic element that emerges out of that
existence. This existential feeling of like
I'm surrounded by everything butfeel nothing.
(13:20):
And Jerry Maguire being this representation of that.
And also Tom Cruise in a Meadow way sort of being a
representation of that. I was going to make this take
later on after we go through TomCruise's career.
But one of the reasons I wanted to use this transition from
Jerry Maguire to Mission Impossible and his career in the
year 1996 is because, you know, Jerry McGuire, I mean, Tom
(13:41):
Cruise becomes Buster Keaton essentially for us, like after
1996, after Mission Impossible. But he was becoming one of the
great dramatic actors going into96.
And then something, something happens to him off screen where
it does feel like, like there's a moment in this movie where Rod
Tidwell tells Jerry like, you'rehanging on by a really thin
(14:02):
thread. And I dig that I.
Dig that about you, man and I was like, wow, they they just
nailed exactly the American relationship to the delusion
that is Tom Cruise. That's so true and how we all
sort of feel delusional in a capitalist world where every
time you get some kind of success, you convince yourself
that you deserve it. And then this is what happens to
you. You become Jerry Maguire and
(14:22):
then you have a crisis at 35 where not only do you hate
yourself, but you hate what you represent.
And I think the apartment, you know, set the framework for that
kind of late capitalist world ina in a more tragic way.
I think Cameron Crowe comes out this more of the humanist
sensibility, almost like a Jonathan Demme, for example,
sensibility where he does have alittle bit more optimism.
(14:43):
I think about what can emerge out of this self-awareness that
I I really love about this film.But I think there's a lot to say
about Tom Cruise and his real life and him just like trying to
be be a regular, like a human being that is hilarious about
Jerry.
Hello, welcome to the Extra Credits plus of Cameron Crows
and Tom Cruise's Jerry Maguire. I'm Trey and I'm Kelsey.
I almost said Jerry fucking McGuire.
And I'm Jerry. What is it muh fucking Guire?
What is it muh fucking? McGuire, What scene?
Isn't that where his fiance is? Like you're you're the king.
(00:38):
Of the living, yeah. Yeah, it's Mick Fucking.
Guire. That's sick yeah should have
kept that. This is a 1996 genre blending
classic, one of the most re watchful movies we've ever
covered on Patreon. Part sports movie, part ROM com,
Yeah, part existential identity crisis about living life in a
(01:00):
cynical, cynical world. And I think the best way I can
sum this movie up is the one quote from Jerry in this movie,
which is when he walks through his office after losing all of
his clients and he goes, I'm notgoing to do what you all think
I'm going to do. Which is just flip out great Tom
(01:23):
Cruise work. Incredible Cruise in this film,
just insane shit for my guy, especially from what we know
about him for the next 10 years after this just wildly self
aware movie on his part. So we'll we'll get into that in
just a second. I think we're just going to jump
in. I don't know if we're putting
these movies on the main feed anymore.
So I don't think we're going to do like 10:15 to start off where
(01:45):
we just kind of like Vamp. I think this is going to be on
Patreon, if that makes sense. So usually we.
But how will people in the main feed know what we're doing on
Patreon? Shouldn't we?
We're. Going to start doing I think end
of month episodes where we just talk about what we covered this
month, what we watched, what's on Patreon instead of doing the
samples. That's the goal.
I don't want to put anything else on the main feed that's
Patreon related. It's just too much work on my
(02:07):
end in the number one boy episodes.
Now with the Living Plus episodes, it's just too much
work. I'm doing like YouTube reviews
that are solo, they're coming up.
So like, I just don't want to doit.
I just don't want to do it anymore, you know?
What I mean? If our Patreon numbers start
going down because we don't put sample episodes on, then I'll
put them back. But like, people can go to
Patreon to find the samples. There's 5 minutes.
Fair enough, fair enough. That's what I have to say to
everyone because everyone is listening.
(02:29):
To this is hard. OK, Rachel.
Senate Spotty, Spotty. Three OK, on Show Me the money,
we'll start the movie 321 Show Me the money.
All right, we're played. Let's do this.
I don't think we've ever talked about Cruise on Patreon before.
(02:50):
I don't think so it. Feels wild it.
Doesn't mean we've definitely like referenced the firm, like
referenced a few good men, sure.So we have in a way, but not
like a serious conversation, no.Right.
So is Tom Cruise our shared favorite blockbuster actor?
(03:14):
Is it Tom or is it Denzel? That's really the question.
It's one of those two, 'cause I'm not 'cause I'm not talking
about like favorite actor of alltime, 'cause we have a lot of
different favorite actors. Go listen to our Ocean's 11
recasting episode where we basically try to recast the
movie in a very biased way wherewe just start naming our twenty
favorite actors that are all from the ages of like 30 to 50.
(03:37):
But in terms of like blockbusteractors, actors that made us as
90s babies excited to throw on TNT at home and not just like at
a hotel where most people were forced to watch movies that were
always running on TBSTNT or USA Network.
Jerry Maguire being one of the greats.
I think people are watching those at home.
OK, too. We were certainly so but Denzel
(03:59):
through like the Tony Scott films and and Tom Cruise through
the Tony Scott films and all theother, you know, 90s stylist
directors they worked with. I feel like those are are two.
Favorites. Yeah.
I I think it's just really like what kind of mood am I in Like
Tom Cruise tends to do more pulpy right like even the firm
feel serious. But is this like John Grisham,
(04:20):
which of course like Denzel has done too, but Denzel will play
like maybe more serious roles and then where he's like
investigating something and Tom Cruise does this really
interesting thing where he has like this energy of being
unaware of something that's happening.
(04:41):
It's almost like people are informing him of the world and
you're like kind of watching himbe sort of aloof.
It's. Always like a Truman Show thing
with him, yeah. Or a matrix thing.
So it really depends on what vibe I I want from like a movie,
right? So that's why I'm struggling to
say like a particular person. But yeah, I definitely think
like Tom Cruise, Denzel, Julia Roberts are our main share.
(05:06):
Like blockbuster Keanu. Reeves for me, like there,
there, there's a tear. I think of like a blockbuster
actors from like 95 to 2005. That really hit me somewhere.
I think Keanu Reeves, while I love him, is definitely like
more you, but you've convinced me over the years.
Just got to watch speed piano ona bus cut saving people on a
bus. It is it's it's a great.
(05:26):
Talking to Sandy Bullock. I mean guys, it's wild that we
got to do that on the Patreon 1000%.
It is actually like, I mean, it was a great movie you know to
watch on cable growing up, but really holds up.
Absolutely. Tom Cruise 1996, recovering 2 of
his movies from this year. Mission Impossible, Jerry
Maguire, both films we're in thetop ten highest grossing movies
(05:49):
of 1996. So this is a huge year for
Cruise. When we were picking what Cruise
we should do for Patreon for TomCruise month in April, we went
through like 15 different films.We could not choose.
We were going to do a vote. And then I was like, you know
what? I think Jerry Maguire's the end
to Tom Cruise as this young up and coming next great
(06:09):
independent to feature film actor and then 96 also being the
end of Tom Cruise as we know him.
And then he just becomes Ethan Hunt for the rest of his life
for the most part, which is finetoo.
I love Ethan Hunt, but it reallyis kind of a interesting peak.
It is the IT is the peak and thebeginning of the fall, I think,
but the fall still high highs, higher highs than most people
(06:30):
like Tom Cruise hasn't hit like there is a floor in his career
and we'll get to it in just a second.
But like before this movie, he had done like a few good men
were born on the 4th of July, the color of money, like just
bangers. So he is, I think I know you.
You struggled to say who your favorite blockbuster actor.
For me, he is like my favorite dramatic, emotionally exposed,
(06:52):
volatile mainstream actor of my lifetime.
Like he just is that person. I think when I was a teenager it
was becoming Jake Gyllenhaal, which I think is an interesting
conversation. Like who?
Who took? Tom Cruise spot.
Even though Tom Cruise still hasTom Cruise's spot.
That makes sense, but who tried?I think Gyllenhaal's probably.
(07:15):
Gyllenhaal's really interesting because when I think of Tom
Cruise, I think of the, like yousaid, this person who's able to
capture a volatility and there'sa comedy, but also really like
serious dramatic, like what? This thing is affecting me so
much capturing in a performance on screen that Jake Gyllenhaal
(07:37):
really does so well. He's very weird and kind of has
crazy eyes like Tom. Cruise, there's a Mania, there's
a delusional. Aspect their faces.
There's always an identity crisis, like you're watching
them in their careers and it's like what's going on with your
personal life? You have a lot of questions.
Some of those questions actuallyget answered for you, for
Cruise's part. But Gyllenhaal, we're still
(07:59):
wondering, I think, like what's going on with him well.
OK, but that's also a really interesting because Gyllenhaal
was in movies that were way moreserious and then now is going
into like Mission Impossible Zone or, you know, like whatever
he he's done like Roadhouse and.Yeah, my guy was in Brokeback,
(08:20):
Brokeback Mountain, Zodiac Prisoners.
And then he was like, Nah, I'm just going to be dog whistling
for certain audiences in the theaters to do action films like
I'm Jason Statham, Like, brother, what are we doing?
And it does feel like Tom Cruiseis like, not going to that B
movie level, but he's really stuck with like, action
franchise films for the past 15 years.
(08:40):
So again, we'll talk about that.But Jerry Maguire, I think one
of our shared favorite rewatchable movies of all time.
What is it about Jerry Maguire that you love?
And I know we just kind of talked about this with the
apartment, but let's just assumepeople do not back-to-back these
episodes. So it's OK to repeat ourselves
here. Yeah, I think that Jerry
Maguire, like you said, is a ROMcom, a sports movie.
(09:04):
But really like the the romance between Rod and Jerry is what
keeps me coming back to the movie.
I think that is why it's so rewatchable.
Totally agree. Yeah, it is like a a friendship
movie. They're they are in love and
hate one another, you know, and there's something I think about
(09:24):
Rod that Jerry wishes he had. It's not just the Quan, even
though I think that's the through line of the movie in
terms of like family, community,money.
I think respect, like those things Cruz feels like he
doesn't have though. He has, like, this elite status
and all the things, you know, commodities he thinks he would
want. He feels empty inside.
That was kind of what we talked about with The Apartment, which
(09:46):
is like how Billy Wilder made a movie that is really like an
economic satire that turns into a social satire.
That's sort of Jerry Maguire, right?
It's this guy who's been hollowed out, begins to question
the cost of being successful in a corporate world.
He's like, and I'm going to write a memo.
I'm sorry. A mission statement.
It's actually a mission statement.
(10:06):
Who can relate? We'll get into all of that.
I thought it would be fun to begin our conversation with the
career of Tom Cruise. I don't really want to do like a
ranking. I feel like because Mission
Impossible, the final reckoning,is that what it's called or it's
a dead reckoning, final reckoning?
I don't know, Dead reckoning. I never know the titles of those
ones. Tom Cruise versus AI was dead
(10:28):
reckoning. Tom Cruise versus AI Part 2 is
called the final reckoning. I see that here.
I think we can do a Tom Cruise ranking or Tom Cruise movie
draft as a separate, like main feed episode.
Yeah, 'cause sometimes we step on that on Patreon.
We're like, let's just do rankings.
Yeah. I think it would be fun to go
through his career through the different eras since the 80s.
In this episode. In this episode right now and
(10:49):
just kind of almost like prepareourselves for that deeper, more
thorough cruise. Yeah, yeah, debate.
I think that's good. Also, though, I, I think you
should, before we go into that, like talk about why, because you
kind of just said it on the apartment.
I thought it was a, a great point.
Why you feel like this is so rewatchable tonally?
(11:10):
Oh, and as far as like this, being like somebody having an
existential crisis and going from like these absurd comic
elements to these human moments to these serious moments.
Yeah, because I think it was just a good point in terms of
like we we said that's what the apartment did well.
And you were saying like that isactually like feels like the
most inspiration that Crow got from Wilder, right, Was like
(11:31):
this tonal, the ability to to shift between this like
workplace comedy to like a kind of more dramatic, but still like
within this comedic tone of of Dorothy and Cruz's character.
But yeah, I think like that's ultimately the why it is so re
watchable is like, I forget every time we watch this movie
(11:54):
that certain things happen. And I think it's because there
are so many different like side stories going on almost that I
just and there's a lot of kind of little emotional hits that
are layered throughout the wholemovie that you're like, Oh yeah,
like this is awesome. And you're you just like can't
stop watching once you come intothe movie.
(12:17):
Like it is, it feels like when we're re watching it, you know,
we often rewatch movies for the podcast.
This is 1 where I was like it's so easy to like consume.
Oh yeah. I think one of the reasons is
it's produced by James L Brooks.Like obviously made by Cameron
Crowe, who is a great film makerin his own right.
And Almost Famous is an excellent film.
(12:38):
Say anything? Excellent film.
Aloha Horrible film but that youknow that 90s career Kelsey.
Missed my Aloha comment but it'sOK.
I saw you watching the movie because I know how much you hate
Aloha as well. But the 90s of Crow in late 80s
to 90s is just so excellent. But in terms of why this movie
(13:00):
really hits for me and why the apartment hit in a similar way,
is it just kind of like satirizing the ways in which
we're all just trying to find meaning in our lives and purpose
and how that the tragicomic element that emerges out of that
existence. This existential feeling of like
I'm surrounded by everything butfeel nothing.
(13:20):
And Jerry Maguire being this representation of that.
And also Tom Cruise in a Meadow way sort of being a
representation of that. I was going to make this take
later on after we go through TomCruise's career.
But one of the reasons I wanted to use this transition from
Jerry Maguire to Mission Impossible and his career in the
year 1996 is because, you know, Jerry McGuire, I mean, Tom
(13:41):
Cruise becomes Buster Keaton essentially for us, like after
1996, after Mission Impossible. But he was becoming one of the
great dramatic actors going into96.
And then something, something happens to him off screen where
it does feel like, like there's a moment in this movie where Rod
Tidwell tells Jerry like, you'rehanging on by a really thin
(14:02):
thread. And I dig that I.
Dig that about you, man and I was like, wow, they they just
nailed exactly the American relationship to the delusion
that is Tom Cruise. That's so true and how we all
sort of feel delusional in a capitalist world where every
time you get some kind of success, you convince yourself
that you deserve it. And then this is what happens to
you. You become Jerry Maguire and
(14:22):
then you have a crisis at 35 where not only do you hate
yourself, but you hate what you represent.
And I think the apartment, you know, set the framework for that
kind of late capitalist world ina in a more tragic way.
I think Cameron Crowe comes out this more of the humanist
sensibility, almost like a Jonathan Demme, for example,
sensibility where he does have alittle bit more optimism.
(14:43):
I think about what can emerge out of this self-awareness that
I I really love about this film.But I think there's a lot to say
about Tom Cruise and his real life and him just like trying to
be be a regular, like a human being that is hilarious about
Jerry.
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