Magnolia

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Magnolia

R

2000

3h 8m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

82%

Tomatometer

220 Reviews

89%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.

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Critics Consensus

An eruption of feeling that's as overwhelming as it is overwrought, Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia reaches a feverish crescendo and sustains it thanks to its fearlessly committed ensemble.

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Kevin Maher

The Times (UK)

May 9, 2025

5/5

Anderson made an aching, yearning three-hour epic about lost souls in LA’s San Fernando Valley, culminating in a nutty, biblical-level frog deluge.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Jul 15, 2023

4/4

Magnolia is operatic in its ambition, a great, joyous leap into melodrama and coincidence, with ragged emotions, crimes and punishments, deathbed scenes, romantic dreams, generational turmoil and celestial intervention, all scored to insistent music.

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Ann Hornaday

Baltimore Sun

Jul 15, 2023

3/4

While not as fully realized as Anderson's last movie, Boogie Nights, Magnolia is filmed with the same skillful abandon, and takes many more artistic risks... The result is a movie as fascinating for its flaws as for its considerable successes.

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Matt Oakes

Silver Screen Riot

Aug 20, 2026

Because in a world where it can rain frogs, nothing that already happened gets to be the last word. And Magnolia – a film obsessed with the idea that the past is never finished with you – cuts to black on the exact instant somebody decides to try anyway.

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Feb 24, 2026

4/4

Its restless camera, onrushing music, heartbreaking monologues, and incomparable ensemble of marvelous performances generate a momentum that feels less plotted than propelled by raw emotion.

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Fico Cangiano

CineXpress Podcast

Mar 28, 2025

5/5

A fever dream of souls crashing, repentance, forgiveness and second chances. Tom Cruise is phenomenal in what could be Paul Thomas Anderson's best offering. [Full review in Spanish]

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Kevin S

@SayHeyKid1230 2 days ago

It’s fine, not my favorite PTA

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Leprechaun K

@LeprechaunKing Sep 27, 2026

Magnolia has big shoes to fill following the success of Boogie Nights. PTA tries to fit too much material into the movie. There are just too many subplots to follow and too much to digest. For a 3-hours long movie of non-stop chaos, it becomes suffocating and exhausting. The ending is also convoluted and unsatisfying.

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Brandon B

@syncopatedbeet Sep 25, 2026

A bizarre, beautiful, almost biblical film in it’s explorations of power, loss, addiction, fame and all that’s in between.

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B.B. B

@b.b.2026 Sep 21, 2026

a bizarre and unique movie. you've never seen anything quite like it. running time is a bit much

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Huntin P

@PaxVobiscum80 Sep 16, 2026

Another movie that was punishing to behold in the cinema. Magnolia is three hours and more of pretentious, auteurist crapola. PTA, or QT the 2nd, is a director considered a hot property today, I assume, given all the Oscars. Back then he was still on his way up, or do I mean down? There are several candidates for Worst Scene, but my selection would be the one where all the characters sing. Cringe city! This was Tom Cruise's last ditch attempt to bag an Oscar. Jerry Maguire didn't do it. Eyes Wide Shut didn't do it. Born on the Fourth of July, Interview with the Vampire, nope nope. After Magnolia he shrugged his shoulders and reinvented himself as action man. And why not? Now, more than twenty-five years later, would I feel differently about Magnolia? My money's on no. When Hollywood tries to do anything Worthy, the outcome is so often Dull. Not even a rain shower full of frogs could save this one.

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Robert P

@Superbad Sep 6, 2026

Magnolia = a *4* star movie!

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Paul Thomas Anderson

Director

Jason Robards

Earl Partridge

Julianne Moore

Linda Partridge

Tom Cruise

Frank T.J. Mackey

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Phil Parma

John C. Reilly

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Synopsis

On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Producer: Paul Thomas Anderson, JoAnne Sellar
Screenwriter: Paul Thomas Anderson
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Production Co: New Line Cinema, Ghoulardi Film Company, Magnolia Project
Rating: R (Language|Drug Use|Sexuality|Violence)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 7, 2000, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 6, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $22.5M
Runtime: 3h 8m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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