Rating: 
Summary: Pathetic, vulgar, confusing movie
Review: .... We watched it as a group and were shocked by the vulgarity for the sake of it.. Oveall a disaster.
Rating: 
Summary: A big, lovable, maddening mess of a movie.
Review: Three unrelated "strange but true" stories-none of which have the slightest thing to do with this film-serve as an introduction.Characters who don't even know each other sing in turn to the same Aimee Mann song. People die; some deservedly, some not so deservedly. People go on living. And frogs fall from the sky. Welcome to "Magnolia," one of the most unique and rewarding filmgoing experiences you will ever have. Like "Boogie Nights," the previous effort from director P.T. Anderson (and don't think the "P.T." nickname is useless; all his films are basically circuses caught on camera), there is a multitide of characters, all of whom are wonderfully conceived and beautifully played. Unlike "Boogie Nights," though, the sly, hip tone is gone, replaced with an almost unending (and fascinating) series of vignettes about eight characters whose lives sort of weave into each others' in two loose groupings. Listing the characters, and the way their lives interweave, would be a long exercise, and besides, it would spoil the fun of figuring out the labyrinthine relationships for yourself. Suffice it to say that the central themes of this film-guilt, redemption, fate, and forgiveness-are built around a plot that is at turns maddeningly dense, howlingly funny, and sad. In particular, the ending sequence, which could have been a feel-good mess in the wrong hands, strikes just the right note of love's beauty-and its uncertainty. Say what you will about "Magnolia," but give Anderson credit for one thing: he swings for the fences, and about 80% of the time, he hits home runs; moreover, you can tell that he and the cast had an absolute blast. If the other 20% of the long-ball attempts-the excessive length, the endlessly moving and zooming camera work, to name two-don't quite work, that's fine. The other 80%-including the wonderful work from the cast (especially from Tom Cruise)-is so fascinating, fresh, and genuine, that you can't help but be swept up in it. Invest some time, and an open mind, in this film and you may well have a truly unique film experience; on the other hand, you may hate it. Like the film itself (and life itself), the reaction you may have to "Magnolia" is anything but predictable, but that's the beauty of art and life, is it not?
Rating: 
Summary: Please...
Review: I can see a bunch of stoners sitting around, sharing absurd ideas, and one of them comes up with this, "Hey, what if we made this movie with a bunch of characters nobody likes, then we make every single one of these characters have a catharsis in every single scene with more uncalled for crying than a day care? Ok...now lets have a "plot" that is not only entirely unconvincing, but so predictable you've figured everything out 15 minutes into the movie. Oh yeah, it needs to be ridiculously long and so lacking in movement after the first 20 minutes that NOBODY can possibly pay attention through the whole thing. Finally, after all of the absurd crying by the souless characters, lets have the emotional "climax", even though this term doesn't really work because you have to build to a climax, not stagnate, but anyway, lets make the climax of this film a plague of raining frogs. Why? Because it would be that much more pretentious, dude." I bought this DVD and I wasted not only money, but gas, calories, and 3 hours of my life for this arrogant piece of..... well labeling it would only make it seem better than it is.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best films of all time
Review: I just wanted to point out several things. The plot of Magnolia does not head in a specific direction, but the mood it creates stays constant within each seperate storyline, the music (like all PTA's movies) is just an added bonus that makes it more upbeat, Someone even asked how does it relate to coincidence? Well how doesn't it? All 8 characters in the movie were somehow connected to each other (kinda like my mom's friend knows your aunt), but it's not only coincidental that their related, it's coincidental that each character has a certain mood to them, a feeling, and that mood stays constant throughout the film. Each of their lives is at trouble, and in that one day they set out to (not necessarly fix, but I guess search for) something. "We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us" is a quote that is said many times in the movie. This is said by just about half the characters in the movie, who all have something that happened in the past that they deeply regret, or want to forget, but the past comes back to haunt them, each character! There's another blast of coincidence. I even read some of the characters were un-interesting. I just read about 10 of these reviews on Magnolia, and almost everyone had an opinion on "the only interesting character," what does that tell you? it tells you to each their own! Personally, my favorite characters were the boy genious, Frank Makey, Julliane Moore, and the cop. Dixon (the little boy who raps about who killed that guy in the beginning) originally had a bigger role that would have solved some parts of the movie; but those scenes were cut. I suggest reading the script! PT Anderson's created one of the best movies ever, and it was completely robbed of any awards. I would have given this movie best movie of the year, best score, best supporting actor (in Phillop Seymor Hoffman, with another nomination to Tom Cruise), best supporting actress (for Julliane Moore), best directing (Mr. Paul Thomas Anderson), best original screen play, and best whatever, point is, Magnolia is great. If you have an open mind, go for it
Rating:
Summary: it'll hit you or it won't
Review: it's an amazing piece of work and has stayed with me all the this week since i saw it. it resonates on so many levels, lonliness, realization, family relationships...aimee mann's music fits so well into the film, you aren't even surprised when the characters start singing halfway through the movie. i'd agree with prior reviewers that, even at 3+ hours, something would be seriously wrong if anything were removed. it's extremely well-crafted, meandering and beautiful film. the only problem i had with the film was tom cruise. never a strong actor to begin with, he almost manages to wring a believable performance out of the script, when he's clearly outgunned by the rest of cast, who are strong and incredibly understated.
Rating:
Summary: PLEASE KILL ME!!!
Review: Daring? Inventive? Full of surprises? Did anyone who described this film with these words actually see it? Where exactly are all the coincidences we hear so much about? Where is the miraculous movie announced at the start? PT Anderson shoots his bolt in the pre credits sequence. Everything that follows resembles an expensive, beautifully shot and star-studded student film. A bad student film. Cruise is good, but not on peak form. The writing gives him no more than a bunch of underwritten speeches that leave me wondering why no redraft of the script was ordered. I really liked Boogie Nights, but this one was dire. I was sitting in front of it waiting for something great to happen, until I realised that about 15 minutes were left. Then it started raining frogs. Had the whole movie been so absurd, I might have actually loved it. But after almost three hours of whining, crying and unconvincing melodramising - bang, it rains frogs. 'This is something that happens' says one character. Brace me people, I'm about to burst open with admiration. Is this some kind of great hidden truth? The movie might have worked if the melodrama beforehand hadn't been so darned heavy handed. It reminds me of Vincent Minnelli's THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, wherin a great director instructs Kirk Douglas that to shoot every scene like a climax would make a very bad director. Every moment in Magnolia is shot like a grandstanding Oscar moment, with overdone music and emotions, exhausting anyone with taste and judgement. Look at Lynch's The Straight Story. Less is more. Magnolia would have seemed excessive to Douglas Sirk even. At least Sirk balanced things out. Those who love it - well I just don't get you people. I love movies from A to Z. I love Chaplin, Spielberg; Bresson, and, er, even Kevin Smith. Hell, I rate PT Anderson very highly. But he sure laid a rotten one with this film. He should learn to be less precious with his feet of film and more self critical. Not every movie has the capacity to be an epic. I rate it 2 stars for the songs, the outtakes and the pre credits sequence.
Rating:
Summary: ahhhh....
Review: well, this mammoth of film took me two previous rental attempts before i could actually finish it. eventually, i really got into this film. but the problem was, it seems that all the stories could not be all actually working in perfection all at once. you see, in the opening, most of the performances were either "strong" or "pretty good" minus julianne moore's, of whom was just kinda...[boring]...at the begining. eventually, tom cruise got his screen time and i can safely say he will never be in a better film. however, once the interview he had reached it's climax... it kinda fell out. eventually, julianne moore's previously lagging performance sped up and she was gooooddd. then, of course, the cop (too lazy to check the name, sorry) became tiresome (the "finding gun" sequence was really awfully photographed), and i was totally immersed by the game show. however, at this point phillip seymour hoffman, of whom i am a big fan of, had a performance consisting of running around a lot. then of course, william h. macy kinda fell apart, but it all reached a point where everything was good. so, to sum it up: it was good, but then it started lagging, then it was good again, etc.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun to follow, but leads nowhere!
Review: Positives of this movie: Great acting. Great music. Great charactors. Interesting stories. Lots of surprises. Negatives: For being such a long movie, leaves way too many loose ends! Huh?: I didn't see how the "freek accident" stories the cop was telling at the beginning of the movie paralled the other stories in this movie. The characters were all related somehow, but their family problems had next to nothing to do with the other characters. What in the world was that black kid rapping about? What did the man tied up in the closet have to do with the rest of the movie? Were everyone's problems simply solved by frogs falling from the sky? Why didn't anyone even mention the frogs falling from the sky after it happened? What happened to the quiz show kid and the quiz show host? It was a fun movie to follow, but I can't begin to understand what it was all about!
Rating:
Summary: Messy, but meaningful
Review: Magnolia is a strange movie. We learn about all sorts of different characters, who all have all sorts of problems. The beginning was wayyyy confusing, because everything went so fast! But things slowed down. Another disadvantage, all throughout the movie, we keep flashing by every scene as they're left off the last time we saw them. Chaos. But not everything is bad. There are good performances by Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore. The acting is great by everyone. There are some funny moments.Most of this film is depressing. NOTE: There is no MAGNOLIA!!! (Why'd they call it that?!). The surprise climax is quite breathtaking (and somewhat humorous). I recommend this DVD if you rented it and you liked it, but not for any other reason, besides the extra features on the bonus disc.
Rating:
Summary: Painful to endure.
Review: Gosh, this film was bad. It was as if the actors were told to pour out their guts in wrenching circumstances for as long as they could without a script to keep them in line. The result, a long, long exercise in self pity & depression. Was anything good about it? Yes, I did like Jason Robards' & Philip Seymour Hoffman's parts; played honestly without excessive blubbering. The rest of it should be locked and showed only as a penalty for moving violations.
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