Jerry Maguire

The dialogue is superb, bringing these relatable characters and their grounded situations an extraordinary sense of authenticity and hilarity.

Jerry Maguire offers the best of both worlds: romance and sports.

It's an easy charmer that manages to avoid the paint-by-numbers traps most romantic comedies fall into. Cruise should make more movies like this and Cameron Crowe should make more movies, period.

On the jock front, Gooding is so believable in his role as Jerry's selfish, pea-brained, wide receiver client that the Dallas Cowboys might consider signing him to complement Michael Irvin.

Cruise brilliantly portrays a man on the brink of losing his marbles and his grip on reality as he knows it: he's hilarious, sad and desperate but still seems charming in this 1996 movie.