I may suffer serious scorn for making the comparison, but a recent viewing of Jerry Maguire on cable for the fourth or fifth time got me thinking about the famous Russian writer. In particular, I watched the film and thought of The Brothers Karamazov.
What the movie and the book have in common is earnestness. It has been much commented that we are a cynical, guarded people who resonate perfectly with the nearly sociopathic characters on Seinfeld (who I loved, too). Given our self-protective postures, it comes as something of a shock to the system when persons are portrayed turning themselves inside out to another person. This is a fundamentally different act than thinking one's true thoughts while alone. Revealing the self to another is fraught with risk of being judged, alienated, and thought silly, stupid or insane. But that is the act the characters in Jerry Maguire and The Brothers do so well and so satisfyingly.
I recommend the movie. The book needs no recommendation since it is widely believed to be the best novel ever written.
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