Jerry Maguire

Jerry Maguire is about a successful sports agent who seems to have the perfect life with a career that provides him with a wealthy living and an attractive fiancee. He goes through the motions of his job and is very charismatic, never seeming to slow down or snap out of the routine of handshakes and promoting athletes. He almost operates as a machine in an assembly line. There are other sports agents in the same company that do exactly what he does, the trick is to be the best. He soon realizes how repetitive and soulless the job is and begins to wonder if he is actually happy. He suffers a breakdown and writes a mission statement about a new way to run the company. All of the employees love it, but the big bosses do not like that one of their machines have thought outside of the assembly line and system of production. It is a bit of a look at the idea of Fordism and the level of importance placed on the product being made, rather than the worker as a human being. Jerry was seen as a means to make money for the company by promoting professional athletes. When there was a fear that Jerry wanted to change that and he was thinking in a different way, he had to be let go. 


Jerry struggles to maintain his job and clients but loses almost all of them to his now competitor Bob Sugar. Rod Tidwell remains Jerry's one athlete and becomes his focus. In leaving the company, Jerry also gained Dorothy Boyd, a single mother to Ray, her bubbly son with a big personality. He begins a relationship with Dorothy, already becoming close to Ray, eventually marrying Dorothy. However, it appears that he is going through the motions like he did at the sports agent company, doing it because he thinks it is the right thing to do instead of because he wants to. His job promoting Rod goes through a rough patch and it looks like Jerry still does not know what he is doing with his life. During a big game, Rod suffers an injury, throwing uncertainty into his future playing career, but also showing Jerry that he cares about his client more than just as a business relationship, comforting Rod's wife on the phone about his condition. Jerry fulfills the dream mentioned in his mission statement about building closer bonds with the athletes, as well as realizing what he needs to do for his marriage to Dorothy. He is finally happy with his life.


What Jerry had to learn was how to not treat everything like a career move or a business practice. Treat people with respect and actually enjoy their company, and love will happen. Willingness to put yourself aside for a moment and show compassion makes love possible. Stop doing what you think everyone else wants you to do and do what feels good. Once Jerry took himself out of the assembly line and actually lived his life, he found what he was searching for all along. It is about treating people like human beings and not as a product to sell.