|

New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

63
11th Hour, The
47
27 Dresses
29
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
39
Alvin and the Chipmunks
81
Bamako
84
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
47
Bella
68
Business of Being Born, The
69
Charlie Wilson's War
64
Cloverfield
30
Cover
68
Delirious
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
43
Final Season, The
41
First Sunday
51
Golden Compass, The
49
Good Night, The
65
Great Debaters, The
63
Hannah Takes the Stairs
52
Hollywood Dreams
7
Hottie and the Nottie, The
60
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
15
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
81
Juno
70
Lars and the Real Girl
47
Lions for Lambs
41
Mad Money
71
Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
xx
Moondance Alexander
53
Music Within
77
Nanking
44
Nina's Heavenly Delights
24
One Missed Call
74
Orphanage, The
30
Over Her Dead Body
39
P.S. I Love You
37
P2
46
Reservation Road
55
Resurrecting the Champ
57
Romulus, My Father
85
Savages, The
78
Starting Out in the Evening
83
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
57
Teeth
92
There Will Be Blood
38
Trailer Park Boys: The Movie
32
Untraceable
63
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
68
War Dance
71
Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, The
43
Youth Without Youth
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
92
There Will Be Blood
85
Savages, The
84
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
83
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
81
Juno
81
Bamako
78
Starting Out in the Evening
77
Nanking
74
Orphanage, The
71
Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, The
71
Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
70
Lars and the Real Girl
69
Charlie Wilson's War
68
Business of Being Born, The
68
Delirious
68
War Dance
65
Great Debaters, The
64
Cloverfield
63
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
63
11th Hour, The
63
Hannah Takes the Stairs
60
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
57
Romulus, My Father
57
Teeth
55
Resurrecting the Champ
53
Music Within
52
Hollywood Dreams
51
Golden Compass, The
49
Good Night, The
47
Bella
47
Lions for Lambs
47
27 Dresses
46
Reservation Road
44
Nina's Heavenly Delights
43
Youth Without Youth
43
Final Season, The
41
Mad Money
41
First Sunday
39
Alvin and the Chipmunks
39
P.S. I Love You
38
Trailer Park Boys: The Movie
37
P2
32
Untraceable
30
Over Her Dead Body
30
Cover
29
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
24
One Missed Call
15
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
7
Hottie and the Nottie, The
xx
Moondance Alexander
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Magnolia
New Line Cinema
FILM:
BOOKS:
MPAA RATING: R for strong language, drug use, sexuality and some violence
Starring
Jason Robards,
Julianne Moore,
Tom Cruise,
Philip Seymour Hoffman,
John C. Reilly,
and
William H. Macy
On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story. (New Line Cinema)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Paul Thomas Anderson
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Paul Thomas Anderson
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: July 25, 2000
Video: July 25, 2000
Theatrical: December 17, 1999
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
188 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
LA Weekly
F. X. Feeney
Part poem, part jungle blossom, all brilliance.

100
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The kind of film I instinctively respond to. Leave logic at the door. Do not expect subdued taste and restraint, but instead a kind of operatic ecstasy.

100
San Francisco Examiner
Wesley Morris
Spellbinding.

100
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
The kind of brilliantly weirdo picture that, by all rights, shouldn't have gotten made at all but this time, miraculously, was.

100
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Hands-down the best movie of the year.

90
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
One of the best movies of the year--startling, innovative, hugely funny and powerfully, courageously moving.
90
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
A quantum leap in ambition from "Hard Eight" and "Boogie Nights" and is, to my mind, much more interesting.

90
Slate
David Edelstein
Anderson must have needed that bonkers third-hour climax because there was nowhere to go short of spontaneous combustion.

90
Film.com
Ernest Hardy
What leaves you breathless, though, is the knockout acting by the cast.

90
Newsweek
David Ansen
At its best, Magnolia towers over most Hollywood films this year.

88
USA Today
Mike Clark
The most imperfect of the year's best movies, Magnolia's flaws are easily forgiven because they are the result of go-for-broke ambition.

85
Mr. Showbiz
Kevin Maynard
An exhilarating and at times operatic film.

83
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
If you thought "Boogie Nights" blew it in its final third, you ain't seen nothing yet.

83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Like Spielberg, even if the content is questionable or the performance is missing, his scenes always manage to be visually thrilling.

83
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Anderson's big, showy flower of a movie unfurls brilliantly, each plot petal a thing of exquisite design. Then it ripens. Then it disintegrates, leaving a mess of color and a faint whiff of rot.

80
The New York Times
Janet Maslin
It's astonishing to see a film begin this brilliantly only to torpedo itself in its final hour.

80
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
Highly audacious, hugely enjoyable, exceptionally well-written, brilliantly edited, and exuberantly actor-driven extravaganza.

80
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Anderson strikes a near flawless balance between looseness and structure, and indulges the occasional flight of cinematic fancy without undermining the movie's emotional integrity.

80
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Drunk and disorderly on the pure joy of making movies. A frantic, flawed, fascinating film that is both impressive and a bit out of control, often at the same time.

80
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
As intoxicating as the flower it's named for, and its characters, most of them as flawed and fascinating as the film itself, seem intoxicated by the overpowering scent.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Graham
At times, Anderson may be too brilliant for his own good, and there is a risk that viewers will tire of the director's relentlessly prowling camera.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Exhausting at times, frustrating in others, Magnolia is mostly just exhilarating, the product of a raw, vibrant talent finding his footing in an adult world -- and unafraid to make mistakes.

75
Baltimore Sun
Ann Hornaday
There is undeniable power in Magnolia, in which small moments of truth are given epic gravitas, not just by Anderson's adroit cinematic style (no one's camera is more restless or inquisitive), but by the wisdom and compassion of the characters he creates.

75
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
Magnolia is "Short Cuts" with hope. It's my kind of mess.

75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Anderson, 29, does so much in Magnolia, with such nerve, with wily humor and out-of-the-blue bravado, that the film's flaws and lapses don't really matter. It ain't perfect, but it's awe-inspiring.

70
Variety
Emanuel Levy
A remarkably inventive and audacious film that almost overcomes its flaws.

67
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Unlike any other film released this past year, be it from the aspect of its storylines, of which there are many, or its emotional clarity, which is, quite frankly, brutal.

60
Time
Richard Schickel
A hard-striving, convoluted movie, which never quite becomes the smoothly reciprocating engine Anderson ...would like it to be.

60
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
None of the characters in Magnolia feel as vividly imagined as the porn stars and filmmakers and hangers-on of "Boogie Nights."

50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
There's precious little to think about despite the screenplay's comic-philosophical musings on fate and coincidence.

50
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
But while this terrific cast gets to strut and preen, it's difficult to make an emotional connection with most of them.

40
Dallas Observer
Robert Wilonsky
A brilliant piece of garbage -- mesmerizing, but only because you can't believe someone has the temerity to put so much into so little.

40
TNT RoughCut
Graham Verdon
I went into Magnolia like a kid running onto a beach with a pail and shovel ready to explore, only to find myself neck deep in quicksand three hours later, screaming for help.

25
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
A three-hour-and-10-minute exercise in slight characterization, pointlessly showy editing and vapid plotting.


The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 75 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Read more user comments...
Discuss this movie in our forums |