Magnolia (1999)

Please explain?? Went away from watching this film more confused than entertained.

Just couldn't get into it at all.

one of the worst movies i have ever seen

Good cast. Couldn't get into this movie. Very layered. Probably ought to watch another time. Very long. Loads of emotional stuff.

Me too, could not get past the first 30 mins, foul language was an issue too.

Absolutely did not like this move, in fact stopped watching after trying to persevere for about half an hour. Would not recommend at all.

Don't let the interesting intro fool you. I just can't see the point of this 3 hour movie. Might be better if they left out a few characters and insignificant details. 1 star for acting

Wife and I both struggled a bit with this film. Clever, multi-level, complex, often confusing, visually absorbing, well directed, beautifully acted (see below), V-E-R-Y L-O-N-G. The editing and mixing let it down a bit. A number of times I missed what seemed to be important dialogue because the music sound track was too loud. I thought ALL the actors did a fantastic job, brought on by clever and intelligent directing. Tom Cruise surprised me with the strength of his performance, Julianne Moore never surprises - I always expect good things from her. Can't mention all the actors by name - too many of them - but really excellent performances all round. Great to see Henry Gibson (remember Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in?). The plot was too complicated to unravel in a single viewing; I was often confused about who belonged where, particularly with the peripheral characters. To understand it properly I would need to see it again at least once but I'm not sure I want to spend another three hours on it!!

One of the worst movies I've seen

One of the most frustrating and annoying films I’ve ever sat through due the often difficult to hear dialogue being drowned out at various times by repetitive musical scores. Pity because Paul Thomas Anderson’s script and direction has got lots going for it: great acting, artistically visionary, emotionally and intellectually hefty with multi-character disconnected storylines that gradually (three hours plus!) come together in a heavy batrachian (Look it up!) downpour. Chance and coincidence are essential ingredients bringing all the troubled relationships to a surreal conclusion. It’s heady stuff that also includes dark themes, heaps of cussing, and prolonged scenes, all suggesting that viewers will have different interpretations and be strongly polarized.

Found these characters so over the top and so unlikable, just couldnt get interested

This rather strange collection of stories did not appeal to me. Nor did the language which was constantly peppered with the "F" word. I can't imagine why I requested it in the first place and would never recommend it to anyone.

A tour-de-force of fractured story telling. Downbeat look at people principally damaged by the family. Cruise is the weakest performance. Interesting but ultimately a bit too showy. 3.5 stars

This movie had many characters with intertwining lives. It was good, though I was a little disappointed in the ending. It didn't tie up as well as I thought it should, and some of the characters seemed a bit on the outside of the story. It required some concentration too, as it was a little confusing at points, especially at the start, before you know all the characters. An interesting film.

fascinating and brilliant.! moments of this movie have stayed in my memory and i can watch it over and over again... maybe that is the trick, the first viewing only scratches at the surface... their are many layers to peel away like an onion, or petals like a magnolia....

If you can survive what has to be the single most irritating and distracting opening sequence ever to get through an edit room, then you may well find some fascination in this tortured piece. The opening set up is vital to our understanding anywhere this thing is headed subsequently, it is a scene montage which introduces each of the five story lines and is dense and terse, so who flood it with a mediocre version of The Beatles ,'One is the loneliest number' at a dialogue swamping level? Go figure. What follows is a set of five character story lines in fugal form which contain some fine performances, not the least from Cruise as a demented misogynous male supremacist rabble rouser, with another underpants dance for good measure! There are some fine efforts throughout by the well chosen cast, but ultimately, it's a sad affair with a scarcity of laughs!

This came with the acolades of a number of friends whose opinion I rate, however I struggled with it. Undoubtedly interesting, harrowing, complex and subtle, ultimately for me at least it was not very satisfying. If you like a stark existential ramble that goes on for three hours, this is your type of film. Some strong performances ( Julianne Moore, Phillip Seymour Hoffman), poignant moments, (the doomed attraction between the shy cop and the sad junkie) and Tom Cruise playing himself is sort of chilling...

This movie definitely didn't do it for me. Too long and disjointed.

I'm still trying to figure out what it was all about - if anything! Over long and a tad melodramatic. The cinematography was well done, and probably the best thing about this movie although there are some very good performances by top class actors (eg. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and William H Macy and others) but what was the point of the Tom Cruise character - yuk! And the frogs/toads at the end? Was that supposed to be a biblical reference to a plague/pestilence brought on by the characters' bad behaviour and foul language?

A very long and intense movie. Don't start it unless you have three hours to see it through to the end. Thought provoking. Not a light-hearted movie, but one worth watching none the less, if you like exploring the everyday human condition.

This is a brilliant film by the wonderful director Paul T. Anderson (see Boogie Nights). In fact, I could have joined Quickflix to get this one movie alone as it wasn't available at our local video store. Do yourself a favour and rent the only good performance on record by Tom Cruise! He is almost unrecognisable as himself and portrays and incredible character giving a performance extracted by this great director as only PTA can do!

This movie is interesting for its intersecting story lines - very much like 2005 Oscar winner for best picture, Crash.

Interesting concept, but too disjointed for me...

A pretty depressing movie and I wondered why I was bothering to watch it.