Don McManus, Jason Robards, Jeremy Blackman

A handful of people in the San Fernando Valley are having one hell of a day. TV mogul Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) is on his deathbed; his trophy wife (Julianne Moore) is popping pills with alarming...( read more  read more... ) frequency. Earl's nurse (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is trying desperately to get in touch with Earl's only son, sex guru Frank T.J. Mackey (Tom Cruise), who's about to have his carefully constructed past blown by a TV reporter (April Grace). Whiz kid Stanley (Jeremy Blackman) is being goaded by his selfish dad into breaking the record for the game show What Do Kids Know? Meanwhile, Stanley's predecessor, the grown-up quiz kid Donnie Smith (William H. Macy) has lost his job and is nursing a severe case of unrequited love. And the host of What Do Kids Know?, the affable Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall), like Earl, is dying of cancer, and his attempt to reconcile with his cokehead daughter (Melora Walters) fails miserably. She, meanwhile, is running hot and cold with a cop (John C. Reilly) who would love to date her, if she can sit still for long enough. And over it all, a foreboding sky threatens to pour something more than just rain.

This third feature from Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights) is a maddening, magnificent piece of filmmaking, and it's an ensemble film to rank with the best of Robert Altman--every little piece of the film means something, and it's solidly there for a reason. Deftly juggling a breathtaking ensemble of actors, Anderson crafts a tale of neglectful parents, resentful children, and love-starved souls that's amazing in scope, both thematically and emotionally. Part of the charge of Magnolia is seeing exactly how may characters Anderson can juggle, and can he keep all those balls in air (indeed he can, even if it means throwing frogs into the mix). And it's been far too long since we've seen a filmmaker whose love of making movies is so purely joyful, and this electric energy is reflected in the actors, from Cruise's revelatory performance to Reilly's quietly powerful turn as the moral center of the story. While at three hours it's definitely not suited to everyone's taste, Magnolia is a compelling, heartbreaking, ultimately hopeful mediation on the accidents of chance that make up our lives. Featuring eight wonderful songs by Aimee Mann, including "Save Me." --Mark Englehart

Flixster Users

88% liked it

73,486 ratings

Critics

83% liked it

136 critics

R, 3 hrs.

Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson

Release Date: December 17, 1999

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DVD Release Date: July 25, 2000

Stats: 10,290 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (10,290)


  • September 16, 2009
    For me, this is maybe the most overrated film ever made! Tom Cruise's performance is cringingly awful. Only William H. Macy it seems is acting, and, I'm sorry, but the 'frog rain' ending is not a clever twist, It really annoys me thinking about it, I have so many reasons why I h...( read more)ate this film that my brain hurts! Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the most overrated directors ever.
  • September 4, 2009
    After a really amusing and curious beginning with three short stories of unbelievable coincidences, this ensemble drama requires quite some patience from the audience over its three hours. There are mostly just conversations, scenes switch from character to character with little ...( read more)progress in the action and total uncertainty about where all this is going while the score buzzes threateningly in the background. It's the characters and the actors filling these roles that keep you on the edge of your seat anyway. by the end you feel as if you've known them for a very long time, although we only see one day on their lives. The acting is some of the best you could have seen in the last 10 years. Tom Cruise gives the performance of his lifetime showing how underrated as an actor he is, Jason Robards really looks and talks as if he is about to die and P.S. Hoffman is fantastic as always, just to name a few. Aimee Mann's songs add a very special feeling to the film, the scene where the whole ensemble sings along to one of them in different places is pure movie magic. Intelligent, moving, well written and gloomy but not without hope. A must see.
  • July 12, 2009
    A dazzling epic of coincidence and fate during one day in the San Fernando Valley. This opens with a short story about some "true-life" examples of coincidence designed to show us that these things can't "just happen" and that there must be more to it than that. It then flies int...( read more)o the lives of a handful of different characters in a exhilarating introduction to a game show host, a sex guru, a police officer, a dying father, a male nurse, a drug addict to name a few. After this the speed slows down slightly and the characters are given time to develop and the stories begin to interlink.

    Paul Thomas Anderson continues to get better and better with Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and now this. Here he gives a human touch to the director where someone like Altman would have been colder and more clinical. He seems to care about these characters and encourages us to do likewise. The direction is astonishing - it moves at a fast pace when it needs to, it is still and watching when appropriate and, at times, it is downright beautiful in a visionary way. Anderson's tries some audacious tricks and manages to pull them off - a scan round all the main characters singing an Aimee Mann track while they contemplate what's become of their lives is not only daring but works as one of the most moving moments in the film.

    The acting is flawless - Cruise deserved the Oscar for this performance, but he is only one of an amazing range of actors including Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, Jason Robards, Philip Baker Hall etc. They are all excellent in their roles and make you care for all their characters - no matter how terrible they seem or how bad their crimes.

    Direction is faultless, performances border on the brilliant, the script is totally convincing and moving. The only weak link is the biblical ending which may annoy some but I think fits in well with the tone of the film, after all, like the film says, "but it did happen".

    If only all films could meet the standards achieved by this beautiful piece of work.
  • May 16, 2009
    A little too long and a little too clever for it's own good. Magnolia is full of terrific performances and complex emotion. PTA's script effortlessly dances from one thread to another. I didn't really appreciate this until a 2nd viewing.
  • February 15, 2009
    One of those character's lives intersect films that works exceedingly well. One of Cruise's best performances. Will stop to watch it anytime I find it on cable.
  • November 6, 2009
    Uno dei rari casi in cui abbia apprezzato anche Tom Cruise.
    Epica la scena delle rane.
  • November 2, 2009
    a magnificent movie that encapulates you and takes you on a wondrous ride.
  • October 31, 2009
    !Comercial or Stupid! :|
  • October 30, 2009
    DIDN'T GET THE POINT, may be i will rate it higher when i see it again. what a hell should i understand from that freaky rain.
  • October 27, 2009
    A masterpiece of suspense, humor, and heartbreak. A real roller coaster ride of a film.

Critic Reviews


March 22, 2002
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

You don't have to like everything [Anderson] does, but if you enjoy seeing the walls rattled and the roof raised in the Hollywood citadel, you've got to love it. full review

January 15, 2002
David Edelstein, Slate

Yu could spend three hours snickering at Anderson's 'What the World Needs Now Is Aimee Mann' metaphysic. But his vision cuts deeper than a lot of folky bathos. full review

May 10, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Magnolia makes it three-for-three for writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson full review

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Magnolia is the kind of film I instinctively respond to. Leave logic at the door. Do not expect subdued taste and restraint, but instead a kind of operatic ecstasy. full review

View more Magnolia reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • itbegins2005
    December 1, 2008
    I started watching this movie at, like, 12:31 a.m. I was not expecting to get all the way through it in one sitting. But I did.
  • ajischillin
    July 15, 2008
    http://www.tomcruise.com/tom-cruise-magnolia-movie.html
  • misslazarou
    January 29, 2008
    Magnolia is one of my top 10 all time favs but how can you compare PT Anderson with Tarantino?!?! They have a different style!
    Im a PT Anderson fan but im also a Tarantino fan..I refuse to say which one is best!
  • scottydgibbs
    January 29, 2008
    p.t anderson, really is better than tarentino, there i said it
  • elfabo78
    November 4, 2007
    My second favorite film,its just great,the music its amaizing the characters,all of them are great,but the one that surprised my was Tom Crouise,in this movie you can see he is not just a "pretty face".
  • wmx7tx
    September 16, 2007
    "These things happen every day"

    No, they don't. These things do not happen every day. Seeing the 2nd greatest film of all-time doesn't happen everyday. It doesn't happen every month. But when it does happen, you will know.

    My outdated dictionary's definition of ambition is "An eager desire for distinction, preferment, power, or fame." These nine words can be replaced by one: MAGNOLIA. But enough of my ranting and on to the review.

    A game show. An interview. A date. A trip to the bar. A quest for redemption. A quest for suicide. These stories are all linked together, but they never fully come together. Some characters never meet and shouldn't because it make the film seem too full. (And Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore on the same screen would cause the world to implode.) Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the brilliant director behind Boogie Nights, perfectly crafts this dramatic epic. Dylan Techinor deserved an Oscar for this brilliant editing. Each frame slides to the next with ease. Jon Brion deserved an Oscar for his score. Similar to a Philip Glass work, it feels as if we are approaching something, something that will have the viewer talking about it the next day.

    Granted that the film is not for everyone. With 3 morality tales, a musical number, a biblical event, and a running time of three hours, it's a film, that tests a viewer's patience. Despite this, Anderson's direction and script are so grand, that even if you don't like the movie, you can recognize any praise and love it receives. It makes you laugh, cry, and just smile at the pure absurdity of life, It has the greatest cast ever put together for a film. Tom Cruise gives the best performance in the film, of his career, and the best supporting performance of the 90s. He completely inhabits this character and a lesser actor wouldn't be able to handle the emotional range of this character. William H. Macy perfectly inhabits the pathetic attitude of the character, John C. Reilly and Phi
  • stereomission
    April 28, 2007
    You should watch this movie.
  • osbzone
    February 15, 2007
    one of the best movies i ve ever seen
  • kindangel19
    September 18, 2006
    This is the most confusing, weirdest, stupidest movie i have ever seen! And i thought tom cruise only stared in good movies!!
  • chary12
    September 14, 2006
    I LOOOVE IT, Ok, it is long, anyway I love the drama, and the end, its amazing! i LOVE HOW THE STORIES CONNECT, BUT THIS TECHNIQUE HAVE BEEN USED SO MANY TIMES.. Amores Perros, 21 Grams, 13 Conversations about one thing... etcc..

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Magnolia Trivia


  • In Magnolia, what song is Donnie Smith always listening to in his car?  Answer »
  • In the movie Magnolia, what fell from the sky at the end of the movie?  Answer »
  • What name do these all share? The name of the dog on Men In Black. Tom Cruise's name in Magnolia. The name of the bunny in Donnie Darko.  Answer »
  • SAME NAME: Jason Biggs in American Pie James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause Leonardo DiCaprio in The Basketball Diaries Sean Penn in We're No Angels John C. Reilly in Magnolia  Answer »

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