#30 Magnolia - proving once again that I can stay awake to watch a crazy man's movie

1999. dir. P.T. Anderson. starring Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Melora Walters, Jason Robards, Philip Baker hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Jeremy Blackman.

Have you seen it before? Not entirely

Exodus 82, Raining frogs, 9 characters who seemingly have no real relationship with each other: an egomaniac who makes it his life's work to seduce women at any and all costs, a child genius (when he was a child), another child genius (whose father is actually a pretty awful guy), the ailing man in bed with a hot young wife who tries (and fails) at suicide twice, the male nurse who takes care of the man in hospice, oh, and another ailing man who happens to be a game-show host, with a daughter who is self-loathing, a coke-head and crazy but is pretty damn sure her father did something to her he wasn't supposed to, and a cop who is pretty lame at his job.

You would think these people have nothing to do with each other but then you'd be wrong because you didn't watch the movie close enough. The egomaniac (Cruise) is the son of the ailing man who is bedridden and happens to be married to the hot woman and cared for by the male nurse. He produced a game show which starred the other ailing man who met the former child genius, works with the current child genius, and happened to be accused by his daughter, the nutty coke-head who ends up with the lame cop, of abuse. Yes, there's more to the story but if I had to suffer Paul Thomas Anderson's insanity, to find out what I'm saying you are going to have to as well!

There's more behind the story and I'm sure I'll get more out of it on a second or third watch but I'm going to have to be high or drunk in order for you to get me to watch it again any time soon...and I have 220 other movies still to watch. Cruise was A-MA-ZING! Though I think the costume department got a bit carried away when he was in his back to Risky Business flashback moment.The guy who plays the kids' father was one of those parents, as an educator, I just wanted to beat over the head and scream at for treating his son like a cash cow and not the truly gifted child he is...also, where the hell was the kid's mother?!?!? The lame cop spent too much time narrating his police duties which led to showing just what an incredibly bad cop he is...there was a story line where he went into a woman's house and discovered a dead body in the closet then it cut to the next scene where he's in the background (remember what I typed just before this last phrase) and doesn't do any of the talking about what he saw. Julianne Moore plays every role really well. I so have a crush on her!

The movie as a whole didn't irritate me despite the length of over three hours of film...I swear, I can't imagine there were deleted scenes but really, truly, there were!...nearly as much as the featurette of Paul Thomas Anderson and the making of this film...PTA is a complete nut job! He's high, or drunk, or really, just insane...my mom says true creative geniuses don't talk like regular people and I didn't understand what she meant until I watched the extras on the Blu-ray. The guy is freaky! If I was tripping I would probably have understood only a fraction of the things coming out of his mouth. It was good to see the other characters in their "real-life" personalities poke fun at their writer/director.

Would I see it again? Ask me in a few years
Would I add it to my collection? Probably not

#30 Magnolia: but it did happen

1999. dir. P.T. Anderson. starring Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Melora Walters, Jason Robards, Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Jeremy Blackman.

And he's runnin from the devil, but the debt is always gaining
And if he's worth being hurt, he's worth bringin' pain in
When the sunshine don't work, the Good Lord bring the rain in

Unforgiven got me thinking about the films of Clint Eastwood. He has a great reputation and two Best Director Oscars because his films are always of high quality… but that’s it. He never really does anything that makes you say “Wow!” or “Huh?” He never confuses you, or angers you, or really challenges you in any way. And I think that’s what separates the truly great ones like David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, etc. from people like Clint Eastwood or Ron Howard.

Magnolia is clearly the work of an insane genius. That is not to say that it is perfect – pretty far from it actually. It is a sprawling, ungainly mess; it is full of characters, scenes, and plot devices that don’t quite work. But it is also fascinating and endlessly rewatchable, and you have to admire the sheer bravado and artistry of it.

OK, for example, here's the second most-famous scene: About two hours and fifteen minutes in, the nine main characters are all at the end of their ropes, having suffered various humiliations and tragedies. (Yes, nine main characters. And, yes, two hours and fifteen minutes. Did I mention this thing is over 3 hours long?) One of them starts singing along to the radio. Or maybe it’s a CD? If so, that makes what happens next even stranger: The other eight sing along with her.



Keep in mind that they’re all in different places, and many of them haven’t met each other. No explanation given, and nobody talks about it again. The first time I saw it, I was like “What the hell was that? Dream sequence? Music video?” Clearly the director was trying to Say Something with this scene - damned if I can figure out what; something about connectedness, or coincidence, or the hand of God? - but kudos to him for not watering it down. If this was the movie Crash, they would have had Don Cheadle give a little speech explaining what the filmmaker meant.

Anyway, I prattle on, so here's what I liked about this movie:

Tom Cruise. Pretty much dominates any scene he's in. Also gives you some great relationship advice.

Favorite Tom Cruise scene: "Men are Shit," after the interview lady totally destroys him. He can almost keep it together but not quite.

Melora Walters. She never really became a big star which is unfortunate. Her character in this movie is about fourteen different kinds of screwed up, and she plays all of them perfectly. Why was she crying when she watched the game show?

Favorite scene of hers: When she's on the date, and she totally bares her soul, and wants to get past all the "piss and shit and lies", and what does idiot John C. Reilly do? Get all judgmental because she was cursing. Check out her facial expression right after he says that.

The weird old guy in the bar played by Henry Gibson. He speaks in rhymes and riddles and rub-a-dub.

The phone service where you can order groceries and porn. Why don't we have that in Chicago?

Earl's last monologue. This was Jason Robards' last movie.

The aforementioned sing-along scene. There are a thousand ways this could have gone wrong but I think it worked.

The ending. Exodus 8:2. Shocking and improbable, but it makes sense in context.

Probably a lot of other stuff...

And here is what I didn't like...

I like the idea of John C. Reilly's character, but they just let him keep talking. His non-stop stream of COPS cliches really gets tiresome. It was sort of funny (unintentionally?) at the end when he's lecturing William H. Macy and there's a voiceover at the same time of him talking.

The whole game show plot line. Too obvious and melodramatic.

You know, what kind of insane-ass game show is that anyway? A live show with kids? Seriously? And what ten year old knows Moliere's full name?

Jon Brion's score. They overused it. The best parts of the movie are when it's just quiet, or you just hear the pounding rain in the background, and they let the actors work.

The Quiz Kid Donnie Smith storyline. A lot of the dialouge when he's drunk makes no sense. "It's a dangerous thing to confuse children with angels", what the fuck is that supposed to mean?

The whole bit with Marcie, and the kid rapping about the "Worm". The movie abandons this plot halfway through, so you don't get any closure. It's annoying.

damn this is long. goodnight.

Position on the list: 209
Highly recommended: The "video diary" on the Blu-Ray version. It's like a movie unto itself. P.T. Anderson is totally on drugs, and his co-producer is trying to retain his sanity, and Julianne Moore is trying to say nice things, and it's just hilarious.
EDIT: Holy shit. The Seduce And Destroy Seminar featurette. LMAO.