Magnolia Movie Information

Movie Information

Overall Rank: 284

Average Rating: 3.1/4

# of Ratings: 317

Theatrical Release Date: 12/17/1999

Language: English

Genre: Drama

MPAA Rating: R

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Actors: Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, Philip Baker Hall, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly

Plot: A story of several characters that are related in some way as they search for forgiveness and happiness.

Quick Movie Reviews

Rating of
1.5/4

Indyfreak - wrote on 11/04/2019

Well acted. Pretentious and ponderous as hell. It actually starts out interesting enough. A brief summary of different examples of moments that merge circumstance and fate. The best acting comes from Tom Cruise, John C. Reilly, and William H. Macey. Julianne Moore just shouted and swore about everything. Granted, everyone had a scene like that. But her performance was more grating. Apparently the director said that he’d cut a few stories to make it shorter. I wish he did that too.

Rating of
4/4

Logan D. McCoy - wrote on 07/16/2019

"Magnolia" is Paul Thomas Anderson at his densest and most structured.

Rating of
4/4

LordEddardStark - wrote on 06/28/2013

The movie was absolutely awesome! PTA knows how to amaze the audience. The cast was great (especially Tom Cruise), the script good and the story realistic. One of the greatest movie, the world has seen!

Full Movie Reviews

memento_mori
memento_mori
Producer

Rating of
4/4

A film as beautiful as a Magnolia.

memento_mori - wrote on 06/25/2013

One of Paul Thomas Anderson's better films (there are many).
I am proud to say I am amongst those who consider PTA a Wunderkind (wonder child in German).
He is the only director of which I have seen all films, and this is arguably the best one, on the same level of achievement as There Will Be Blood.

This movie is dramatic, funny, smart, connected and unpredictable.
These may be the best-developed characters put to screen, because the story is basically about the characters. That every character has a story; a beginning, a middle and an end.
The actors are all hitting every right note, with one actor even delivering a performance that I believe should go down in history (Tom Cruise).
The script ties everything together. All the characters are somehow, even in the slightest ways …

Andrew
Andrew
Producer

Rating of
3.5/4

Ambitious and epic

Andrew - wrote on 05/11/2012

Magnolia is an extremely ambitious film that has many intersecting plots and sub-plots. It is a great character study, as we see the intimate thoughts and feelings of each character as he/she struggles through life in the San Fernando Valley in the late 90s. Anderson is clearly a great director and only a truly great director could have pulled this very complicated movie together. The cast is fantastic, full of Oscar winners and nominees (Cruise, Moore, Macy, Hoffman, Reilly, and Robards), as well as one of the finest character actors (Hall). Melora Waters is also fantastic as Claudia Wilson Gator.

Many will criticize this film for its length and these criticisms are valid. The film could have been shorter or maybe even broken up into two separates films, but overall the story …

Daniel Corleone
Daniel Corleone
Movie God

Rating of
4/4

Magnolia review

Daniel Corleone - wrote on 11/22/2011

A picture filled with solid drama and dark humor that pulls you in as each story unfolds. It is unbelievable how several figures are well developed, you never keep your eyes off each scene which diminishes doubts of its length. So many sensitive subjects presented based upon each main character: sexist repressed self-help guru - Frank T.J. Mackey (portrayed superbly by Tom Cruise which earned him a best supporting role), lack of parental guidance - Donnie Smith (William H. Macy), compassionate and resourcefulness - Phil (Hoffman), peer pressure - Stanley Spector (Blackman), time lost - Jimmy Gator (Phillip Baker Hall), inner demons due to guilt - Linda Partridge (astounding performance from Julianne Moore), guilt and regret - Earl Partridge (Robards), righteousness and sincere - …

Related Movie Lists

Recent Movie Talk Posts

No posts have been made on this movie yet. Be the first to start talking about Magnolia!

Write Post

Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
  
Are you sure you want to delete this post?