Jerry Maguire: Special Edition

Writing in VL-5/97, I said: "This amiable story of an idealistic sports agent (Oscar-nominated Tom Cruise) who tries to start a new agency with one client (the Oscar-winning, charmingly irrepressible Cuba Gooding, Jr.) and find true love (Renee Zellweger) has some great moments. Oddly, they don't happen between Cruise and Zellweger--whose scenes left me more bored than if I were watching an end-of-another-losing-season Seahawks game--but Tom and Cuba (and now I'm getting all choked up again just remembering). Some good writing, great laughs, and Gooding's heartfelt performance will make you want to show your favorite distributor the money and buy a few copies." Re-released in a "special edition" loaded with extras, this double-disc set sports gorgeous, richly saturated color and sterling Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, as well as a scene-specific commentary featuring Crowe, Cruise, Zellweger, and Gooding, Jr. What's tres cool is that viewers can watch the film and listen to the commentary, or watch the commentary (while the film plays in a smaller box onscreen). Other extras include deleted scenes, rehearsal footage, the original seven-minute "making of," Rod Tidwell's (Gooding, Jr.) first commercial, the Bruce Springsteen "Secret Garden" music video, and a four-minute look at real sports agent Drew Rosenhaus. Sure to be quite popular, this is warmly recommended. (R. Pitman)[Blu-ray Review—Sept. 16, 2008—Sony, 138 min., R, $34.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, Jerry Maguire boasts a fine transfer with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sound. The bonus features on this release are nearly identical to those on the standard DVD release, including audio commentary by director Cameron Crowe and costars Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, and Cuba Gooding, Jr. (although missing here is the picture-in-picture commentary), five deleted scenes (9 min.), a seven-minute “making-of” featurette, “Drew Rosenhaus: How to Be a Sports Agent” (4 min.), “My First Commercial” with NFL agent Rod Tidwell, the music video “Secret Garden” by Bruce Springsteen, a “Jerry's Mission Statement” segment, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine Blu-ray release of a solid film.]