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21 Comments

1. bobby

   overrated
   Pretentious and boring. And WTF was with the 3 minute lip syncing segment.

2. Profit

   Wonderful drama! Actors and directors, great!
   Its really a great movie about love, and regular life, i really enjoyed it!. A complex mosaic drama, with a disturbed ending.

3. etyfk

   Worth seeing
   Plot: 7
   Originality: 6
   Visuals: 8
   Acting: 7

   Overall: 7

4. oibjo

   Loved it, but what was it about???

5. hoda

   Nice direction and cinematography, story and performances as well

6. beast

   frankly I found it dull and a waste of time.

7. oice

   I like weird movies, but this one left me at the frogs.

8. winec

   emotional and entertaining

9. sink7

   this would be > 9 if it weren’t for the ending which seemed forced

10. artie

    6 of us got our money back(20 minutes)
    It’s bad as blair witch but with actors color loads of $ to make it.
    The director thinks he’s Altman but only in his dreams.
    Saw the movie again(in full) with my wife only and thought it was quite good but a downer.

11. neddy

    A Wonderful Tapestry Of Stories.
    Magnolia is an experimental film, and I suppose that accounts for some of the poor reviews on this site. At least that’s the only way I can explain it because this was an outstanding film in every respect.

    Magnolia tells the story of one very eventful day in the lives of eight or so characters in the San Fernando Valley in L.A. The characters are all slightly related in some way. The film is hard to review because there is no actual plot..it’s just a slice of life (or lives in this case). The movie uses very quick cuts and long pans in the style of Altman and Wells before him. The long pans are mixed w/cut shots that move so fast that I had trouble keeping up at times, and I am from the MTV and video game generation.

    The movie is a character exploration of all of these various people. The main point of the film is that life has no point. It’s just people trying very hard to connect with other people who mean a lot to them, and failing more often than not. This sounds somewhat depressing, but the film also conveys hope, which saves it. The film also shows that life is a bizzare series of coincidences and there’s just no possible way to plan for or account for certain things happening. There’s also a somewhat odd quasi-biblical happening thrown in about 4/5 of the way through the film.

    See Magnolia. It’s well worth the three hours. Pay close attention, especially during the first two hours! The film is NOT what you’re used to seeing, but that’s why I go to the movies.

12. hoang

    MAGNOLIA is MAGNIFICENT!
    I both loved and hated "Magnolia." Let me explain further. I’ve seen it twice, and I am convinced that Paul Thomas Anderson’s multilayered, mosaic character study is the best American film of 1999. It is also a frustrating experience of a movie because it is so filled with emotional pain and regret that it causes one to avert their eyes from the screen in the hopes that it will all be over. Of course, this is what life often feels like, full of regrets and pain since we are all human and flawed. And that is what makes "Magnolia" such a cinematic marvel to witness.

    "Magnolia" is set in L.A. on one rainy 24 hour day. It is raining so much that all the characters keep referring to how it is "raining like cats and dogs." We are shown the lives of several different characters who may live on the same street named Magnolia. There is the lonesome, clumsy cop (John C. Reilly) who is ready for any relationship that comes his way; the elderly Earl Partridge (Jason Robards), a wealthy man who is near death; the sympathetic nurse (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who takes care of Earl; Earl’s gold-digging wife with a conscience (Julianne Moore); the strutting, sexed-up guru Frank T.J. Mackey (Tom Cruise), Earl’s estranged son; the tired quiz show host dying of cancer (Philip Baker Hall); the coked-up quiz show host’s daughter who loves Aimee Mann songs (Melora Walters); the genius whiz kid (Jeremy Blackman), a participant on the aforementioned quiz show; and finally, the lonely, pathetic former child genius Donnie Smith (William H. Macy) who wants love and has love to give.

    "Magnolia" begins with an ingenious prologue about chances and coincidences in life, told through some famous urban legends. One includes an attempted suicide that becomes a homicide, a store clerk killed by three thieves who bear his name, and the connection between a blackjack dealer and a pilot. The point of these vignettes is to show how some people can come together by sheer coincidence without knowing why or how. And, in essence, that is what "Magnolia" is about.

    Somehow, these people find a way of connecting to each other in ways not imaginable to them, or at least not immediately apparent to them. The most powerful scenes involve the heartless, cynical Frank who is the guru of something called "Search and Destroy," demonstrating to men the various methods on how to get laid (those scenes are as electrifying as anything Cruise has ever done before). When Frank realizes that his father is dying, he badgers the man verbally and then lets out an emotional cannon that is as moving as Marlon Brando’s similar moment of realization in "Last Tango in Paris."

    Then there is the emotionally high-strung wife of Earl (Moore) who regrets cheating on her husband and suddenly realizes that she loves him. A crucial scene is when she stops at a pharmacy to get medicine for her husband. She is questioned about her prescriptions, and Moore begins to curse the clerk, shaming him for calling her a lady. It is so effectively unwatchable that it will make you cringe. Along with "Cookie’s Fortune," "The End of the Affair," and "An Ideal Husband," 1999 will be remembered as the year of Julianne Moore, a gifted actress of extraordinary range.

    There are many performances worth mentioning but I will at least mention one of our most unsung actors in America, John C. Reilly (who appeared in P.T. Anderson’s "Boogie Nights" and "Hard Eight"). He plays Officer Jim Kurring, who prays quite often and is seeking a mate. He finds one in the quiz show host’s daughter (Walters) who plays her stereo far too loud. He is immediately smitten and asks her out on a date, oblivious to her drug abuse and her high-pitched personality. She does not realize what a klutz he is since he loses his gun and nightstick quite often.

    "Magnolia" is full of so many great scenes and acute moments of observation that some of it will remind you of Robert Altman’s classic "Short Cuts." The similarity ends as far as the mosaic of characters (there were far more in Altman’s film) because writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson has a musical structure in mind that is as unusual and breathless as anything I have ever seen before. Never mind the various songs by Aimee Mann (written specifically for the film), Mr. Anderson has also mentioned that he based the narrative structure on the Beatles song, "A Day in the Life." There is even a moment where each of the characters sings the lyrics to the Aimee Mann song "Wise Up." "Magnolia" is surely the most musical of all films in a long time.

    It would not be fair to reveal more of the surprises in "Magnolia," since one cannot predict what will happen from one scene to the next. The film builds with so much power and tension that it leads to a climactic moment that you will either love or hate (let’s say that the "Exodus 8:2" signs are there for a reason). Some will argue that this film is too strange, bizarre and exaggerated to understand or comprehend. Those are the naysayers talking who do not wish for cinema to take such leaps and bounds from the ordinary. "Magnolia" is one of the most profoundly moving films of the 1990’s with an ensemble cast that is as uniformly brilliant as you can imagine. All great films are tough to forget - this one will grow on you and get underneath your skin.

13. sheik

    I saw it three times!
    I absolutely have never been as emotionally connected to a movie as Magnolia. Although, I can see how a-lot a people may not like the movie. The reason is that most people have emotional baggage that they have never reconciled and the movie reminds us all of what lies under the surface simmering. I viewed it with a sense of peace just knowing that we are all out there searching for the same thing; redemption and happiness, and that I’m not alone.

14. hok

    Best movie I’ve seen in a long time.

15. street

    Simply put: one of the finest films ever made
    Uh Oh! We don’t want the audience to have to think too much! I must admit I am almost glad to see that so many people disliked this movie.
    This must be an indication that some one finally had the balls to do something different, as opposed to re-hashing the same old crap. Simply put: one of the finest films ever made.

16. iov

    Anderson does good Altman imitation
    Very reminicient of Robert Altman’s Short Cuts. Works very well.

    This is an extremely emotional movie, at times too much so. Many scenes felt more like a climax than something in the middle of a movie.

    But when the climax finally comes, wow.

17. edwynn

    waste of 3.5 hours, dire
    the opening sequence before the credits began was the best part of the film. for those critics who said the movie was fantastic, what were they smoking and how much were they paid? in fact, what the hell were the people who made this film friggin’ smoking? it’s depressing. i never thought tom was attractive. i still do not like julianne moore, she looks like a witch. i have liked movies that tom and julianne were in, however. the only actor i liked in this movie was the big blonde guy who was also in the talented mr.ripley. everyone is near hysterical, depressed or something stupid in this movie. hey, we live hysterical and depressed, i don’t need to pay 10 bucks to see it for another 3.5 hours okay? all the characters lives are linked supposedly in some way by a bullfrog rainstorm near the end of the film–and this is not even worth the movie. let me just tell you this–people LEFT the film after 2 hours into it. if you want to see something that is good, go see GO or LOCK, STOCK and TWO SMOKING BARRELS. just don’t see this film.

18. brytte

    Melodrama for people who are too jaded or too smart for melodrama.
    People seem to love this movie or hate it. Now I know why.

    On the up side, the direction is artful, the stories are compelling, the writing is excellent, and the characters are complex and vivid. On the down side, the direction is pretentious, the stories are melodramatic, the writing is overwrought, and the characters are hyped out and overacted.

    Anyone who says Magnolia totally sucks is just being reactionary to the down side. Anyone who says it’s totally excellent is just being blinded by the up side.

    I say: Magnolia has a lot going for it. It’s unique and interesting, it’s touching and thoughtful, and it manages to confront you with a lot of really dark subject matter yet still leave you feeling pretty good. On the other hand, it’s overindulgent and long-winded. The characters don’t talk, they give speeches. Some of the L.A. county magic realism irritates. Realistically, PT would have benefitted from someone coming in, slapping him across the face, and forcing him to edit out at least one side story and about 45 minutes.

    And yet, there’s so much to like. There are moments in Magnolia when the script and the acting and the colorful direction come together perfectly. Jason Robards is exquisite…I’ve never seen an actor in any film, ever, deliver a role with more sincerity than he does in this one.

    I guess my ultimate recommendation is this: if you can sit through a sometimes too-artsy emo-marathon for 3 hours without feeling resentful, you’ll probably like this movie as much as I did. Otherwise, you’ll probably hate it.

19. lager

    WORST MOVIE EVER
    It is the worst movie I’ve ever seen.
    Do not see it…or you’ll waste 3 hours

20. rocca

    the first personal, intimate epic
    When I went into the theater to see Magnolia, my friends were hyping it up as a great movie (as they had all already seen it). Usually when this happens, the movie is good, but the hype ruins its impact - not so with PT Anderson’s latest work. The movie may not ‘click’ with everybody, but considering how much I identify with one of the characters in particular, and the powerful message behind the emotional turmoil, this movie not only moved me, but also changed the way I think about certain things. When a film, a show, a painting, a song -anything - can have that sort of an effect, it must not be ignored. Many people will criticize Magnolia of overacting, rambling, sequences, but honestly, how often does cinema really portray human emotions unheroically and without pretense? This film is a study of the human psyche, probably the best since Apocalypse Now, and, unbelievably, puts a near-optimistic spin on the eternal struggle for happiness. There *are* lessons to be drawn and there *is* sympathy for these fictional characters. When you go into this film: dont think of the hype, dont think of the negative reviews either - just think about yourself in these sorts of situations… and then complain about overacting.

21. jaime

    We finally found the time (3 hours) to see Magnolia,despite what some of the critics have said.
    The best news was that at 4:45 PM, the cost was a paltry $4.25. That’s $1.42/hour folks, and you’ll
    have to work hard to find a better value in movies on an hourly basis.

    If you’re looking to make your dismal, gloomy, winter-blah lives look good,
    this movie and every character in it will make you look like Bill Gates’ rich uncle.

    It’s a huge, incredibly talented ensemble that delves into multiple
    cancerous deaths, alcoholism, incest, homosexuality, adultery, child abuse,
    cruelty to animals, suicide, euthanasia, low self-esteem, theft, abandonment and grand mal misanthropy - - in fact, if you look up misogyny, it will say,"see Tom Cruise in Magnolia".

    Honestly, it looks like they got the plot from the index of the United
    States Criminal Code and a few other things bear mentioning: this movie has
    no background music - - it’s all in the foreground, done loudly - - so much
    so that much of the dialog is lost. I guess that’s Audience Abuse. Why
    not? They abused everybody else!

    These horrific topics are woven into a black tapestry of anger and profanity
    that actually had ME (an ex-sailor)squirming a few times. In other words, this whole package is very reminiscent of many family reunions or your last job
    performance evaluation.

    The reviews I’ve read give it high marks for acting, but I watched a steady
    procession of moviegoers hit their personal angst-limits and head for the
    exits. They started at about the one hour mark and grew steadily to its
    conclusion. We stuck around in case something happened. Something did, but
    it was too little, too late. My wife punched up the luminescent dial of her
    watch so often, I felt like I was sitting next to a welder.

    If you must see it, rent it. And if you have kids - - don’t forget to use the headphones.