Review of Magnolia (1999) by Gavin S — 31 Jan 2012
An interesting film for sure, all over the map, but that seems to kind of be the point Anderson is making here. A number of damaged characters looking for connections, love, forgiveness, and other crucial things in their lives; they all intersect, but it doesn't really matter if they do or not.
It's a film about damaged people and how at the end of the day, we're all damaged, but we need to forgive and try to move on. At least, that's the message I got. Tom Cruise is over the top here but hearing him scream "Respect the Cock!" is pretty funny.
John C. Reilly gives one of the strongest perfomances, other great work by Jason Robards in his last major film role, Philip Seymour Hoffman, in a smaller role, that I would have liked to see fleshed out a bit more, and William H.
Macy, as a fallen childhood genius TV star who's life didn't work out how he wanted. I still found Julianne Moore annoying here, and this movie was made in 99, so that's 12 yrs of constipated faces she's been making.
Interesting viewing, but does take a bit to get going. Also a strange WTF? moment near the end that asks you to take things on faith...just odd.
This review of Magnolia (1999) was written by Gavin S on 31 Jan 2012.
Magnolia has generally received positive reviews.
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