Rating: 
Summary: Promising but Indulgent
Review: I have a hard time believing that the previous reviwers and I saw the same film. Yes there are great actors and granted the charachters and plot have promise but the dialouge is abysmal. It's hard to feel any sympathy for charachters that spend three hours screaming curses and feeling sorry for themselves, not to mention that it's a complete waste of some great talent. To top it off, I waited for some resolution or something that ties all these sad sacks together and what I got was an ending (which I won't spoil for those who haven't seen it) which is not only implausible but just plain stupid. I'm sorry but I expected better from Mr Anderson. If you want to see a good "indie" film go to American Beauty or Being John Malkovich.
Rating: 
Summary: A perfect film with the greatest climax in film history
Review: From the opening scene (hilarious), I knew MAGNOLIA was a great film. It had me in awe through the entire piece. Do yourself a favor: GO SEE THIS FILM IN THE THEATER, perferably with an audience. Don't let the length stop you from going; the film is not slow at any point.I will not give anything away, but the climax of MAGNOLIA is, in my opinion, the greatest ever done. I know it is a bold statement, but I have studied film for years now, and I have never seen anything like it. The theatrical experience was almost religious at this moment: I saw the film with a large audience on opening night, a late show, and at one point in the end, literally seconds before the climax hit, I saw a few people nodding off. Then it happened (perfect), and the entire audience shot up and gasped. Then we were all rolling with laughter. It is truly one of the great moments. I have never seen so many jaws drop in one moment, so fast and so far to the ground. Do yourself a favor and go into MAGNOLIA with as little information as possible. It is one of the decade's best. BOOGIE NIGHTS was my favorite of 1997, but MAGNOLIA is even better. And remember: No great film is too long, just like no bad film is short enough. See MAGNOLIA now!
Rating:
Summary: hEARTBREAKING
Review: Paul Thomas Anderson's third film Magnolia is without a doubt one of the most heartbreaking films I have ever had the distinct pleasure of seeing. Magnolia is beautifully scripted by Paul Thomas and is brought to the screen brilliantly by this great and gifted ensemble. (Phillip Seymour Hoffman is exceptional as Phil Parma, Jason Robards's attending nurse .) Personally, I like to compare this film to aMERICAN BEAUTY. Which I found to be highly disfunctional and in the end the film does not allow you to feel empathic towards its characters. Whereas, Magnolia capitalizes on its willingness to let us see each character stripped of his or her's own defenses. Allowing us to view firsthand the release of raw emotion no matter how liberating or heartwrenching it maybe to watch.
Rating:
Summary: The Redemption of a Master Filmmaker
Review: I'm not quite sure where to begin with this review. I suppose I'll start off by saying I wasn't sure what to expect of "Magnolia" - I loved "Hard Eight" and was staggeringly disappointed by "Boogie Nights." I knew I wanted to see "Magnolia." And I knew it looked as if it might be about redemption and salvation in ways "Boogie Nights" tapdanced around. I was hoping for a great deal from "Magnolia" - what I received instead was a life-altering cinematic experience on par with my first viewings of "The Thin Red Line," "Oscar and Lucinda," and "Schindler's List." I've only seen "Magnolia" once - last night - but I'm thoroughly haunted. Never before have I seen a film that explored - so tenderly, so diversely, so completely - what it must be like to be destroyed, even as we leave ourselves open to save and be saved (whether consciously or not). This film is a revelation, a moral compass that, in a perfect world, would be looked to by every artist, filmmaker, writer, and musician. The performances are some of the finest I've seen in recent years - Tom Cruise, Melora Walters, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and John C. Reilly stole the show. If Cruise and Walters are snubbed come Oscar voting time, I'll be one unhappy lil' poet. I swear there were scenes in this film - particularly those between Reilly and Walters - where I could feel my heart breaking inside my chest. It may be that I've never wept at a film so often as I wept during "Magnolia." And I wept, not because it was a sad movie, but rather because it is in every way aware of its transcending sadness in search of hope.
Rating: 
Summary: the enigma that is magnolia
Review: The fact that I saw this movie when I was 12 didnt at all change my future perspective on life, no, not at all. To sum up the movie rather briefly:
- Tom Cruise's little goat-tee (thats no where near right)(hehehe....goat)and somewhat limited vocabulary make for a hellova lotta fun and side conversation later, more so becuase I was 12
- It rained frogs.
Rating:
Summary: LA-DI-DA!
Review: Aimee Mann's gorgeous score and Tom Cruise's momentary brilliance are the only two feeble reasons to trudge through this self-indulgent rigmarole of a movie. Which is barely enough to make it worthwhile. All the characters in the movie fumble through their tragic, unfulfilled existence and the theme couches a fairly depressing message -- that we always end up hurting the ones we really love. Whenever something unusual or magical happens, it is ineffective or downright silly (e.g., a rain of frogs -- don't ask!) Worse, all this out-of-focus saga runs for a sprawling 3 hours. The music is so loud in most sequences that it drowns out the dialogue, what kind of a creative cinematic device was this if beyond me. The language is often of a streetside variety. Oddly, one of the less important characters, Donnie (played by William Macy) says something interesting: "I really do have love to give...I just don't know where to put it." Which perfectly summarizes my sentiments for this farcical excuse for a film.
Rating: 
Summary: More painful than a kick in the nuts
Review: What would happen if you took the seven worst movies by the seven best actors in hollywood and crammed it all into one 3+ hour long movie? Well, watch Magnolia to find out. This movie is that bad. Its like watching Ishtar end to end -- twice -- in one sitting. Not even famous actors like William H Macy or Tom Cruise could have saved this one. Now if you liked Ishtar or root canals or hitting yourself in the thumb with a hammer repeatedly, you should watch this movie. You have been warned.
Rating:
Summary: Just for the record. . .
Review: It really does rain frogs, though it is a rare occurance. I always get a bit peeved when people complain about that aspect of this wonderful film. Do a little research. It shouldn't take you long to find a dozen or so newspaper articles documenting frog storms. ". . .but it did happen."
Rating:
Summary: Religious and deeply moving
Review: I liked Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights" when I saw it a few years ago, so I gave "Magnolia" a shot after stumbling over it at the video store. The promise of a three plus hour runtime did not put me off in any significant way: I often enjoy reading very long books or watching lengthy films because I always figure that more time equals more character development and better background. I even violated one of my usual rules--reading a few reviews about a film or book before diving in--and watched "Magnolia" with precious little information about the plot. Even after learning that Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore starred in this film, two actors I usually despise, I STILL decided to give this one a chance. What really suckered me in was the roughly ten minute opening sequence, one of the most original and intriguing opening sequences I have ever seen in a movie, about a murder filled with amazing coincidences hinting at inescapable fate. I logically assumed from this information that "Magnolia" would take as a central theme the power of coincidence and human fate. Well, I wasn't far off because these two ideas inform a significant part of the movie. But there is something else going on here that transcends these ideas and moves Anderson's picture into the realm of the religious. "Magnolia" concerns a day in the life of a host of characters both big and small in modern day Los Angeles. Hollywood bigwig Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) lays dying of cancer in the living room of his house, attended only by a caring male nurse (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and his confused and drug addicted wife (Julianne Moore). Partridge's estranged son, a seedy infomercial misogynist named Frank T.J. Mackey (Tom Cruise), knows nothing about his father's impending death and probably wouldn't care much if he did. His concern at the present is a taped interview he agreed to do with a nosy reporter, an interview that ominously threatens to lift the carefully crafted veil of secrecy Mackey placed around his personal life and childhood. Having his dirty laundry aired publicly inspires Frank to look deep into his soul and make a painful decision about whether he should reconcile with his past or not. Meanwhile, a show Partridge once produced, called "What Do Kids Know," is airing in another part of town. The long time host of the show, Jimmy Gator, discovers he has an incurable illness. The show must go on, though, so Jimmy walks out on stage to fire questions at the current wunderkind, Stanley Berry. Stanley suffers privately from the attentions of his overbearing father, a guy who pushes his son to succeed on the show at any cost. Related to the television show are Jimmy's wife Rose (Melinda Dillon), his drug addicted daughter Claudia, and former child star Donnie Smith. Smith once appeared on some of Partridge's shows but has since fallen on hard times. His job at an appliance/electronics store has just dropped out from under him and he can't seem to line up a date with the bartender at his favorite pub. Jimmy's daughter Claudia, who hates her father for initially unspecified behavior, meets up with a clumsy yet macho
cop named Jim Kurring (John C. Reilly) and begins to tentatively connect with him. I know you can get this cast information from nearly anywhere. I just wanted to see if I could untangle the byzantine structure of this film in the space of two short paragraphs. There are many more characters parading through the scenes of "Magnolia," and Anderson carefully ties them all together without ever bogging down. Obviously, the cast list isn't nearly as important as what these characters do and how the actors portray their deeds. All of the performances in this film are excellent. Tom Cruise steps out on a limb here as the insensate Mackey, a guy who tries to deal with his emotional baggage by dumping on women in his "Seduce and Destroy" infomercials. As good a job as Cruise does here, John C. Reilly steals the show in the role of police officer Jim Kurring. His manic behavior, his eternal patience (see the amusing scene with the lady in the apartment), and his rigid opinions about right and wrong are often hilarious and deeply sad at the same time. Everyone here should pat themselves on the back for a job well done. The first part of the movie defines the various characters and explains their situations. Then comes the emotional roller coaster ride as nearly every person in the movie suffers a humiliating set back of some type. Mackey's lies about his past become known in deeply embarrassing ways. Officer Kurring loses his firearm; a huge humiliation for a cop. Jimmy Gator and Stanley Berry both undergo enormously awkward situations during the filming of the television show (in front of a live audience, no less). Physical and emotional pain comes spilling out from nearly every character about midway through the movie. Then something remarkable happens: the healing begins. The characters "sin" and then atone for their behavior in various ways. I saw someone refer to this movie as a Christian picture, and I think that claim is true to some extent. A frog fall that would make Charles Fort proud might make some viewers doubt the veracity of this claim, but even this odd event towards the end of the film has a scriptural basis. Can Hollywood make a Christian film in these modern times? Apparently. Match the religious themes with a great soundtrack, the performances, and the somber feel of the film and you have the makings for a marvelous three-hour experience. Give "Magnolia" a glance soon.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Year
Review: I know "Magnolia" technically came out in 1999, but it's wide release was in 2000, and with this year not even half-over, I can honestly say that this movie is one of the best I've ever seen. With few and relatively minor flaws (such as trying to tackle 10 different storylines; some of them not resolved well enough by the 3-hour period)P.T.Anderson beautifully uses the camera to convey moods parallel to the characters that he writes. There are some surreal moments that are just flat-out cool, ie. the whole singing thing (that's being labeled as stupid, but aren't you supposed to leave reality at the door?) A great soundtrack that makes this movie as amazing as it is and a brilliant ensemble performance with stand-outs by Julianne Moore and John Reily (who plays the most damn convincing cop I ever seen). But I agree with the last review: Anderson should have focused on 3 or 4 storylines and explored them more. Even so, one has to admire it's gutsiness to take on themes like desperation and lonliness and do so with such conviction- (There are also symbols in this film, which at times can be confusing-but after you see this, read Exodus:8 from the bible and some of your questions will be answered.)
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