Rating: 
Summary: A flawed but frightening masterpiece
Review: "I have so much love to give," says William H. Macy's character towards the end of Magnolia. "I just don't know where to put it." He might well be speaking for director Paul Thomas Anderson, whose obvious love -- for filmmaking, for actors, for his characters, for humanity, for himself -- is bursting the seams of this sprawling, maddening, stunning, exhausting tour de force. The cast list reads like a Who's Who of contemporary character actors, each pitch perfect in their role. The themes are weighty and densely interwoven: the inheritance of dysfunction and flawed love from parent to child; the desperate need (and inability) to love and be loved it leaves behind; the small acts of forgiveness that sustain us; the marvels of everyday life; the ubiquity of chance and coincidence. The soundtrack, mostly provided by Aimee Mann, is no mere backdrop but an integral element, a unifying and revelatory voice. The direction and cinematography are obsessive in detail. The non-linear, pointillist narrative structure often draws comparisons to Robert Altman, but a more apt analogue is the work of postmodern author David Foster Wallace, whose dense prose also challenges us to find thematic and emotional connections among seemingly disparate events. Magnolia refuses to give viewers what they have been trained to anticipate from a film, and at three hours, it is anything but escapist -- it is a challenge to its audience's aesthetic expectations and their humanity. Those that meet the challenge, who are willing to forgive Anderson's pretensions, as his characters ultimately forgive each other's, are rewarded with one of the most emotionally involving and wrenching films of this or any age.
Rating: 
Summary: Stunningly bad movie
Review: First of all, they shouldn't even give an editor's credit for this movie, since you could cut out about 45 minutes from this 3 hour behemoth and not lose anything from the story. But that is an example of the film's problem: this movie feels like a first draft which was never finished. You could also cut out the entire frog dopping sequence, which doesn't alter any of the characters' motivations and thus doesn't add anything (except some bizarre, uninterpretable arty element) to the film. A good cast is squandered with a lazy, foul-mouthed, and yet surprisingly predictable script. I was interested for the first 90 minutes (I even survived Aimee Mann's dreadful rendition of "One Is The Loneliest Number" drowning out the dialogue at the beginning) as the multiple stories unfurled and film moved daftly between comedy and tragedy, but then the film slows to a crawl and wallows in pathos, while all of these wretched, utterly unlikable characters (whom suddenly become inspired and sing along to another of Mann's abysmal songs in a scene that's unintentionally laughable) try to rectify all the dumb things they've done. A very ambitious film, but a film so ambitious needs to have a point. I can accept a bad film made by bad filmmakers, but such junk thrown at us by talented an auteur as Paul Thomas Anderson is really dismaying.
Rating:
Summary: Artless, Pretentious, Incoherent, Boring
Review: This movie added up to little more than a rather large waste of my time and money (even renting it was an unfortunate waste of 4 dollars). That the script would actually earnestly borrow a line from Aimee Mann's lyrics at an attempt at a dramatic moment shows what kind of level this monstrous heap of drivel is operating at. The group sing along to one of her songs was just plain dumb.Aimee Mann's songs excel apart from the movie, lyrically open-ended enough to let you attach meaningful bits of your life to their poignancy. Showing up prominently throughout this movie, however, her songs only further confuse an already garish, vulgar, and embarrassingly silly mess. My respect for her music has gone down a notch by association with this puerile attempt at a big idea film. To be fair, this movie had potential. The characters were all at least somewhat interesting... but there was no substantial, intelligent, perceptive thread weaving together the hodgepodge of vignettes. If you want to see a movie where brutality and stupidity actually go towards something meaningful, and where a sudden biblical ending is handled intelligently, try renting "the Rapture."
Rating:
Summary: If you buy one DVD in your life, buy this one.
Review: This is one of those works that seperates the boys from the men, the movies from the films, and the emotionally challenged from the cerebrally enhanced. Like the magnolia that appears in scene after scene, unnoticed and unfocused, the lines of connection from one character's story to the next, are all there if one would only look. I've watched Magnolia about a dozen times now. I am moved by something different each time. This is a layered, complex act of simple emergence that hits the viewer on many levels. It is brilliantly scored, brilliantly directed. Like Jacob's Ladder, this is one of those pieces of cinematic genious that is probably too penetrating for the average "one star" one brain celled cromagnum to comprehend. But hey, somebody has to make the french fries.
Rating:
Summary: zero stars please
Review: holy cow, did this movie stink! poorly adjusted people swearing, complaining, doing drugs, spacing out, whining about their feelings and misery for more than three whole hours. oh joy! then there were the overly-long dreary songs and the cast sing-along in the middle of the film to boot. and of course don't forget about the "surprise" ending. this film tops my "stupidest films of the 90's" list, with *the green mile* a close second. someone please get pta some prozac before he writes his next film. because this film was complete trash.
Rating: 
Summary: Sad movie with beautiful music and some good acting
Review: Magnolia is way too weird for me. I watched the whole thing hoping that it would get better and also hoping that it would somehow make sense in the end. I guess it was not supposed to make sense ... it was just supposed to show you how people's lives interconnect. There are a some good things about this movie though! Such as the music, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Melora Walters' BIG and beautiful smile at the end. My heart went out to Stanley the Whiz Kid and I cried for him. Great acting by Blackman, Hoffman and Walters. Also, Cruise plays a great egomaniac!
Rating:
Summary: my 3'd review
Review: Ok, I'll be honest. This is my third review of this movie but I have to counteract the 1 star reviews. I KNOW I KNOW, their opinions are valid, but I don't think they are being honest. Most of them praise several aspects of the movie (acting, art direction, etc.) but just slam the length. If they like something about it, it must be worth more than 1 star. This movie, whether you like it or not, is obviously better than a hollywood throwaway. If these people were honest they would admit that they thought it was at least average. 1 stars should be reserved for the truly terrible movie without any redeemable qualities. So anyway, i do love this movie, though I certainly wouldn't recommend it to most. It is challenging. It is art, it is not entertainment. Most people only want entertainment so they do not like this movie. Like all challenging art, when someone praises it, those who do not enjoy it feel insulted. They feel they are being called stupid which isn't true. The problem is that they are looking for the wrong things within the art. So then they call the movie pretentious (how can a movie be pretentious? People can be pretentious but objects can't.)and say it draws attention to itself (what else should it do? Draw attention to your couch or shoelaces?). So anyway, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but i cannot let people ruin this.
Rating:
Summary: A Movie to Open Your Wrists By
Review: From Aimee Mann screeching through a unending, fingernails-on-a-chalkboard rendition of "One is the Loneliest Number" which drowns out all of the dialogue at the beginning of the movie to the unconventional ending which frankly was way too little, way too late (most well-adjusted viewers would have called the suicide hotline by the end of the second hour), we're presented with nothing but miserable people doing miserable things to make their miserable lives even more miserable. Appealing only to sheltered college student/art types who love to revel in misery and constant over-the-top profanity. They won't be disappointed, and by the reviews I've read, they weren't.
Rating:
Summary: BEST MOVIE OF THE MILLENIUM.................................
Review: THIS IS THE GREATEST MOVIE I LOVED IT MORE THAN TITANIC.THIS HAS GOT IT ALL COMEDY(NOT TOO MUCH THOUGH),DRAMA,ROMANCE,SATIRE I LOVE THIS MOVIE THIS IS THE FILM TO SEE.IT DOESN'T DRAG FOR A MINUTE.THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER."TWO THUMBS UP!"A+++++++++++++++++++++++.ALL THE WAY.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!!!!............................
Review: THIS IS THE GREATEST MOVIE I LOVED IT MORE THAN TITANIC.THIS HAS GOT IT ALL COMEDY(NOT TOO MUCH THOUGH),DRAMA,ROMANCE,SATIRE I LOVE THIS MOVIE THIS IS THE FILM TO SEE.IT DOESN'T DRAG FOR A MINUTE.
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