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IMDb > Magnolia (1999)
Magnolia
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Magnolia (1999) -- An epic mosaic of several interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.

Overview

User Rating:
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 70% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Writer (WGA):
Paul Thomas Anderson (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Magnolia on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
7 January 2000 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Tagline:
Things fall down. People look up. And when it rains, it pours.
Plot:
An epic mosaic of several interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 18 wins & 35 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(55 articles)
DVD Playhouse--July 2009
 (From The Hollywood Interview. 6 July 2009, 11:32 PM, PDT)

DVD Playhouse--June 2009
 (From The Hollywood Interview. 3 June 2009, 12:41 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
If only this movie hadn't been nominated for anything... more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
mag-no'li-a (USA) (promotional title)
more
MPAA:
Rated R for strong language, drug use, sexuality and some violence.
Runtime:
188 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English | German | French
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Both Philip Baker Hall and Jason Robards' characters opt to take a smoke from their cigarettes, but choose not to before they confess of their regrets. And only one of them actually lights it. more
Goofs:
Continuity: Two lights on the back of the ambulance are on and off in consecutive shots. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Narrator: In the New York Herald, November 26, year 1911, there is an account of the hanging of three men. They died for the murder of Sir Edmund William Godfrey; Husband, Father, Pharmacist and all around gentle-man resident of: Greenberry Hill, London. He was murdered by three vagrants whose motive was simple robbery...
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Punch-Drunk Love (2002) more
Soundtrack:
Goodbye Stranger more

FAQ

How are the characters connected?
Is this movie based on a novel?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
more
8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful:-
If only this movie hadn't been nominated for anything..., 15 August 2000
1/10
Author: devlocke (s2jcstur@titan.vcu.edu) from Richmond, VA

... because of it's nomination, I decided I would sit through this movie until the end. I kept hoping it would become... well... watchable? Yep, that's the word. It certainly never GOT watchable. The opening # w/ the song "One" was irritating, but I gave it it's shot. By the end of the first tape, I was pretty sure it wouldn't get any better. By the end of the second... I was really upset that I'd bothered to rent it. What's so bad?

Plot: none that comes together. If you keep thinking that all of the storylines will come together, in some depressing, artsy, and pointless version of "Lock, Stock, and 2 Smoking Barrels" all I can say is, you're SOL. The movie starts out with 2 or 3 plots. And it ends with 2 or 3 plots. Two of them mix... but none of them come to any conclusion, and at no point do they ALL come together.

The characters: Bah. Perhaps they were somewhat realistic, before the actors got a hold of them, but in the finished product they all seem fake as hell, because

The acting: Sucks. Kind of like Kabuki, in that a.) everything is incredibly overstated, but b.) if you're incredibly anal you'll find subtleties. Not a SINGLE piece of dialog, other the incoherent ramblings of a doped-up dying old man (which are incoherent, and ramble), is delivered in anything LIKE the manner a real person would use. The dialog is HEAVILY contrived. Tom Cruise really was ok - his dialog sucked but it ALMOST sounded natural from him. I was impressed. The cop - if you see it, you'll know who I refer to - was just SO bad a character and acted SO badly I developed a physical reaction to him coming on screen. Specifically, nausea. And finally...

The frogs: the movie got fun for approximately 10 minutes. Why? Because the fact that a bible verse involving Egypt and the plagues was mentioned hours ago does NOT mean that millions of frogs raining from the sky in modern-day LA for NO reason whatsoever makes ANY sense at all. So incredibly whimsical, I laughed in shock through the entire sequence.

In short: it's not artistic, it's artsy crap.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Magnolia (1999)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Donnie Darko Lovers? notgonnatakethisanymore
Watch Short Cuts, Magnolia fans. TrueNerd
Magnolia... anas1025
The Exodus reference (spoiler) MatthewSchoolio
Uhh, pomposity galore. Lessa1085
Dixon's Rap defjamfanatic123
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