Genre: Drama
Length: 3h 3m 22s
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Tagline: Things fall down. People look up. And when it rains, it pours.
Plot outline: Magnolia is the study of nine lives in one day in San Fernando Valley, California. These nine lives all connect and revolve around the game show "What Do Kids Know?"(WDKK), where a team of three kids play against adults and everytime the show is on, there is a new team of adults and the kids remain; if they won the previous game. Earl Partridge (the late Jason Robards) produced "WDKK" when it was first on in the late 60s. He is dying of brain and lung cancer and is being taken care of by Phil Parma (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a male nurse. Linda, Earl's trophy wife (Julianne Moore) starts to fall in love with Earl for real, despite her cheating. Earl, rapidly dying on his bed, asks Phil to find his estranged son, Frank T.J. Mackey (Tom Cruise), who grew up hating Earl and now runs a seminar for single men, which teaches them how to seduce a woman and leave her... The host of "WDKK", Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall), is also dying, but not as rapidly as Earl. He has a very rocky relationship with his daughter Claudia (Melora Waters), who sniffs crack 24/7 and accuses her father of sexually molesting her. Police Officer Jim (John C. Reilly) goes to Claudia's house after getting called about a disturbance. He falls in love with her right away... Stanley Specter (Jeremy Blackman) is a contestant on "WDKK", who is a genius and is being used by his father to make money. If Stanley and his team keep winning, they will set a record on the show and get tons of money. The record Stanley is trying to beat is the 1968 record set by Donnie Smith (William H. Macy), who had the exact same childhood when he was on the show and has now grown up to be a pathetic loser. He's been recently fired from his job, and is trying to find his way into happiness... Summary written by Noah Redfield {NoahR456800@aol.com} In the style of Ripley's Believe It Or Not, coincidence has played a part in three bizarre deaths during the past century... Jimmy Gator has hosted the popular quiz show "What Do Kids Know?" in Los Angeles for over 30 years. Stanley is the brightest of the three kids currently reigning on the show. Jimmy is estranged from his daughter, Claudia. Living in her cheap apartment, Claudia is hooked on cocaine. Donnie Smith had been a famous whiz kid on Jimmy's show decades ago. Since being hit by lightning, he does promotional work for the Solomon Bros. appliance store and dreams of getting an expensive set of braces for his teeth. Frank Mackey is a very successful motivational speaker. His aggressive seminar on dating, "Seduce and Destroy", is well attended by frustrated bachelors. Officer Kurring answers a call at a woman's apartment and finds a corpse in her closet. Affluent producer Earl Partridge is bedridden and dying of cancer. His beautiful wife Linda married him for his money... The quiz show kids are close to setting an all-time record; Stanley feels the pressure from his father. Jimmy has learned that he has cancer and only two months to live. Officer Kurring arrives at an apartment where neighbours have complained about the noise; Claudia opens the door. Earl asks Phil, his nurse, to contact his estranged son; the younger Partridge now uses the name Frank Mackey... Summary written by David Woodfield 24 hours in L.A.; it's raining cats and dogs. Two parallel and intercut stories dramatize a man about to die: both men are estranged from a grown child, both want to make contact, and neither child wants anything to do with dad. Earl Partridge's son is a charismatic misogynist; Jimmy Gator's daughter is a cokehead and waif. A mild and caring nurse intercedes for Earl, reaching the son; a prayerful and upright beat cop meets the daughter, is attracted to her, and leads her toward a new calm. Meanwhile, guilt consumes Earl's young wife, while two whiz kids, one grown and a loser and the other young and pressured, face their situations. The weather, too, is quirky. Summary written by {jhailey@hotmail.com}
Comment: Don't be fooled by the comparisons to Robert Altman's Short Cuts; P.T. Anderson's direction of his own wonderfully original screenplay is like nothing you've ever seen before. The film opens with three dramatizations of chance occurrences that most people would deem as "just one of those things," or coincidences. From here, there is a cut to a beautiful unfurling magnolia accompanied by Aimee Mann's gorgeous version of Harry Nilsson's "One" (if you look closely, you can see a street sign that reads Magnolia). During the remainder of the song, Anderson introduces us to the dozen-plus main characters. We are fed only a dash of these strangers' lives, but we are instantly mesmerized. Soon, the tempo of the film slows down, and Anderson allows us to relate to the individuals of his superb cast. In the middle of the surrounding stories lies the story of an unappreciated cop (the under-used John C. Reilly) and a coke-sniffing, self-esteemless girl (Melora Walters) falling in love. Finding love and overcoming fear of rejection are only two of the recurring themes of this film. Among the other ideas that surface are understanding when to help (rather than punish) and making amends for past mistakes. The third act, which features the entire cast participating in an Aimee Mann sing-along of "Wise Up" and an apocalyptic wake up call from the heavens (br ush up on your Bible knowledge, Exodus 8:3), is where even some Magnolia proponents stray. In my eyes, this section demonstrates Anderson's originality to bring all the characters together through one supernatural event. Its effects are the epitome of all "coincidences." Magnolia is truly one of the finest films I have ever seen (certainly Anderson's best). Like his previous films (Hard Eight, Boogie Nights), Anderson's Magnolia explores the importance of love and family to give an individual self-worth. As Aimee Mann's "Save Me" accompanies the conclusion of the film, we remember that we do need others to help us overcome adversity, and that we cannot make it through this life alone.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
Country: USA
Language:
Subtitels: No ()
DVDs: 1
IMDB address
| Actors: | ||
| John C. Reilly | as | Jim Kurring |
| Tom Cruise | as | Frank T.J. Mackey |
| Julianne Moore | as | Linda Partridge |
| Philip Baker Hall | as | Jimmy Gator |