Magnolia (1999)
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Reviews Counted: 139
Fresh: 116 | Rotten: 23
Critics say Magnolia is an ambitious, lengthy work that ultimately succeeds due to the interesting stories and excellent ensemble performances.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 33
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 7
Critics say Magnolia is an ambitious, lengthy work that ultimately succeeds due to the interesting stories and excellent ensemble performances.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 164,188
My Rating
Movie Info
An intriguing and entertaining study in characters going through varying levels of crisis and introspection. This psychological drama leads you in several different directions, weaving and intersecting various subplots and characters, from a brilliant Tom Cruise, as a self-proclaimed pied-piper, to a child forced to go on a TV game show and the pressures he faces from a ruthless father.
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Cast
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Jason Robards
Earl Partridge -
Julianne Moore
Linda Partridge -
Tom Cruise
Frank "T.J." Mackey -
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Phil Parma -
John C. Reilly
Officer Jim Kurring -
Melora Walters
Claudia Wilson Gator -
Jeremy Blackman
Stanley Spector -
Michael Bowen
Rick Spector -
William H. Macy
Donnie Smith -
Philip Baker Hall
Jimmy Gator -
Melinda Dillon
Rose Gator -
Emmanuel Johnson
Dixon -
Lillian Adams
Donnie's Older Neighbor -
Henry Gibson
Thurston Howell -
Felicity Huffman
Cynthia -
Ricky Jay
Burt Ramsey -
Alfred Molina
Solomon Solomon -
Luis Guzman
Luis Guzman -
April Grace
Gwenovier -
Patton Oswalt
Scuba diver -
Mary Lynn Rajskub
Janet (Frank's Assistan... -
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Magnolia Trailer & Photos
All Critics (141) | Top Critics (33) | Fresh (121) | Rotten (24) | DVD (40)
A wonderful mess.
Top CriticWhat this film may have needed to get on its feet is some honest-to-goodness violence.
One of the most enthralling and exhilarating American movies in ages.
All the work is top-notch.
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.
You 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.
Short Cuts is clearly the starting point, but not the ending point for a movie that is probably the most overstuffed with ideas of anything in Paul Thomas Anderson's career.
A decade after its release, P.T. Anderson's emotionally epic Magnolia gets the glorious Blu-ray treatment it deserves. This Altman-esque mosaic follows several disparate L.A. citizens on one rainy day, as they navigate through mistakes and torrenti
The film becomes one big stew, with too much brewing in the mix. (Blu-ray Edition)
...it finally slumps down under its own weight and becomes a shambles. But, dang, it's such an attractive shambles.
Just as something so reliably surprising as the weather can modify people's behavior, "Magnolia" encompasses an inter-connective human bond that accepts reality's blind spots. Purity of intention, as the story suggests, is a happy accident that can hit ev
Magnolia's finest achievement is the sheer ambition running through every vein.
Undeniably one of the most emotionally-draining films ever made...
There's a lot of really neat, cool honestly imaginative stuff in Magnolia, but it's hardly the best movie I've seen in the past month.
Magnolia is a mess, but it's somehow encouraging: It takes a gifted director to make a movie this extravagantly foolish.
Easily one of the best of the year.
A bold move for Anderson, an amazing display of acting for Tom Cruise, and one of the best films of 1999.
I think Flannery O'Connor's philosophy -- that a desensitized culture sometimes need exaggerated, loud storytelling to reawaken it -- is the operating principle here.
Marks the arrival of a great, if not the greatest, modern director
Anderson's movie has the audacity to expose the ugliness within a society that worships power and cherishes materialism.
Audience Reviews for Magnolia
[font=Arial][color=darkred]Nate's Grade: A[/color][/font]
Super Reviewer
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- Stanley Spector: This happens. This is something that happens.
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- Officer Jim Kurring: What the hell is this, Marcie?
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- Donnie Smith: I really do have love to give! I just don't know where to put it!
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- Earl Partridge: Don't ever let anyone ever say to you, 'You shouldn't regret anything.' Don't do that, don't! You regret what you fucking want! And use that, use that, use that regret for anything, any way you want. You can use it, okay?
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- Frank "T.J." Mackey: I will not apologize for who I am. I will not apologize for what I need. I will not apologize for what I *want*!
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- Frank "T.J." Mackey: I'm quietly judging you.
Discussion Forum
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Latest News on Magnolia
September 20, 2012:
My Week With PT Anderson, Day Three: MagnoliaWhen he pitched Boogie Nights to the studio, Paul Thomas Anderson famously demanded three hours and...
February 7, 2007:
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November 21, 2006:
Auteur Robert Altman Passes Away at 81Robert Altman, the esteemed and venerable director of "M*A*S*H," "Nashville,"...
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Not since or not before has Anderson made a film this ambitious in his career. Magnolia is a epic mosaic that goes deep inside the lives of certain characters and their busy day in a San Fernando valley. There are so many different interesting techniques at work here, so many interesting characters, sub plots, twists, turns and collisions that at times Magnolia itself feels like a riveting, risky and brave game. As i said it does not always succeed, especially the over use of Aimee Mann's mostly annoying songs feel forced and it all takes a bit too much time to get on it's way. But when it comes to being bold you have to give credit for Anderson. He is interesting director who is always interested in trying something fresh or changing his approach or style. Since Magnolia he has gone somewhere quite different and darker as an filmmaker. His manical style has also changed into more balanced and calmer. Magnolia instead is a bit overdrive all the time and all the connections seems a bit too scrambled at times.
Actors are doing fantastic work here. Philip Seymour Hoffman is especially good as caretaker with a big heart and Tom Cruise has one of his greatest performances in this film. I like Magnolia and i like to see it time to time. It is not a film which is easy to sit through. For starters it's three hour lenght is quite a turn off but if you are patient viewer i can assure you that you will be rewarded with a bold and unforgettable journey into to everyday life of these fascinating characters. Worth the journey.