Magnolia (1999)

An epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.

Director:

Paul Thomas Anderson

Writer:

Paul Thomas Anderson

Stars:

Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, Julianne Moore

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 28 wins & 56 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pat Healy	...	Sir Edmund William Godfrey / Young Pharmacy Kid
Genevieve Zweig	...	Mrs. Godfrey
Mark Flanagan	...	Joseph Green (as Mark Flannagan)
Neil Flynn	...	Stanley Berry
Rod McLachlan	...	Daniel Hill
Allan Graf	...	Firefighter
Patton Oswalt	...	Delmer Darion
Raymond 'Big Guy' Gonzales	...	Reno Security Guard
Brad Hunt	...	Craig Hansen
Jim Meskimen	...	Forensic Scientist
Chris O'Hara	...	Sydney Barringer
Clement Blake	...	Arthur Barringer
Frank Elmore	...	1958 Detective
John Kraft Seitz	...	1958 Policeman
Cory Buck	...	Young Boy

Storyline

24 hours in L.A.; it's raining cats and dogs. Two parallel and intercut stories dramatize men about to die: both 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.

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Plot Keywords:

coincidence | multiple storyline | surprise ending | frog rain | cancer | 

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Taglines:

Things fall down. People look up. And when it rains, it pours.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language, drug use, sexuality and some violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

Luis Guzmán is credited as himself.

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Goofs

Much of the prolog, while appearing to be fact, is either fiction, urban legend, or severely altered fact. But then, the movie is fiction.

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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. They were identified as: Joseph Green, Stanley Berry, and Daniel Hill. Green, Berry, Hill. And I Would Like To Think This was Only A Matter Of Chance. As reported in the Reno...

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Crazy Credits

As the credit for Robert Downey Sr. scrolls up the screen, the words "(a prince)" appear next to his name.

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Alternate Versions

The supplemental material disc of the R1 special edition DVD of Magnolia has about 8 minutes of hidden outtake footage. To access it, you need to select the 'Color Bars' option and wait about twenty seconds.

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Connections

Spoofed in Mission: Improbable (2000)

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Soundtracks

Goodbye Stranger
Written by Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies
Performed by Supertramp
Courtesy of A&M Records

User Reviews

Spellbinding ride through one day

A dazzling epic of coincidence and fate during one day in the San Fernando Valley. This opens with a short story about some "true-life" examples of coincidence designed to show us that these things can't "just happen" and that there must be more to it than that. It then flies into the lives of a handful of different characters in a exhilarating introduction to a game show host, a sex guru, a police officer, a dying father, a male nurse, a drug addict to name a few. After this the speed slows down slightly and the characters are given time to develop and the stories begin to interlink.

Paul Thomas Anderson continues to get better and better with Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and now this. Here he gives a human touch to the director where someone like Altman would have been colder and more clinical. He seems to care about these characters and encourages us to do likewise. The direction is astonishing - it moves at a fast pace when it needs to, it is still and watching when appropriate and, at times, it is downright beautiful in a visionary way. Anderson's tries some audacious tricks and manages to pull them off - a scan round all the main characters singing an Aimee Mann track while they contemplate what's become of their lives is not only daring but works as one of the most moving moments in the film.

The acting is flawless - Cruise deserved the Oscar for this performance, but he is only one of an amazing range of actors including Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, Jason Robards, Philip Baker Hall etc. They are all excellent in their roles and make you care for all their characters - no matter how terrible they seem or how bad their crimes.

Direction is faultless, performances border on the brilliant, the script is totally convincing and moving. The only weak link is the biblical ending which may annoy some but I think fits in well with the tone of the film, after all, like the film says, "but it did happen".

If only all films could meet the standards achieved by this beautiful piece of work.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German French

Release Date:

7 January 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mag·no'li·a

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$37,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$193,604, 19 December 1999

Gross USA:

$22,455,976

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$48,451,803

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ghoulardi Film Company, New Line Cinema, The Magnolia Project

Technical Specs

Runtime:

188 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1