Review of Magnolia (1999) by Cameron J — 25 Mar 2012

It's "Six Degress of Kevin Bacon: The Motion Picture", only they couldn't get Kevin Bacon back in 1999, seeing as he was, I don't know, in a coma after "Apollo 13" or something - seeing he's just now starting to show up again -, so they had to get William H. Macy, who actually kind of looks a tiny bit like a puffier Kevin Bacon in this film, though not quite as much as Tom Cruise looks phenomenally Jewish, well, at any time of day. I think the only reason he became a Scientologist, outside of the fact that it appears to be the key to eternal youth, is to escape all of the Jew jokes. Yeah, that's great and all Tom, but that plan probably would have gone better if you didn't look so much like Ben Stiller. I know that sounds way off, but just look hard enough at Cruise, think about it, and think about how oddly fitting it would have been to stick Ben Stiller in "Rain Man". Wow, and just when you thought I couldn't get any more offensive after those Jew jokes; but hey, in all honesty, it's a role Stiller was made to play, because we all know his as that kind of off-the-wall, obnoxious goofer. Of course, it would be hard to sell that he's actually smart on the inside, and yet, that still wouldn't be any more inconsistent than this film. No, this film isn't that much of a mess, but P.T. Anderson made a movie about the adult film industry confusing as all get out, so strap yourself in ladies and gentlemen, because one can only imagine what this film's going to be like.

The opening segment of this film alone messes with your head and leaves you totally lost, as it features a cameo of Patton Oswalt as someone who's supposed to be bought as some kind of athletic scuba diver. No, but seriously though, the opening really tells you what to expect by retelling three, insanely convoluted urban legends about "coincidences", and while the rest of the films' stories are told much more slowly and comfortably to where they're not all that confusing, they're still going to knock you for a loop eventually, as they begin to unfold into each other, just the like opening predicted. Of course, that's bordering on the least of the problematic things that the opening tells you to expect, because the opeing is capped off by an overwhelmingly frenetic montage that both introduces the characters and tortures you a teeny bit, and sure enough, although they're not happening often, there are plenty of overbearingly noisy moments. Of course, there are occasional points where, if those noisy moments are not happening, you do kind wish that they would just hurry up and do something as exciting as torturing you with noise, because the film hits some spots of sometimes repetitive spots of slowness; maybe not on the level of "Boogie Nights", which got to be borderline tedious on occasion, but enough for the entertainment value to slip a bit here and there. Still, even if the film does manage to dance around being either obnoxious or slow, it's bound to lose steam eventually, because it's so very overlong, and don't get me wrong, this is a massive drama that would only be hurt more if it didn't have a long length to allow for meditation, but many points in the film get so very loose and prolonged to the point of leaving you exhausted, waiting for the film to just hurry up and get to the next piece of the story. The film's extreme looseness not only wears on your nerves, but fades the film's focus, leaving it to push aside many a story for way too long and leave certain people such as myself to be frequently thrown-off, sometimes irritated and ultimately, not nearly as satisfied as they should be with a film this ambitious. However, as overlong and spotty as this massive mess is, it's an ultimately rewarding sit much more than it is a tough one, but before you can recieve that reward, you've got to be kept going, and the film has the charm to help you do that.

P.T. Anderson's script is riddled to the point of almost being composed of numbingly obnoxious set pieces - even if a lot of the noise is coming from an excellent soundtrack - and unrelenting obscenities, and yet the man is still no pushover when it comes to writing, presenting a script that may not always be top-notch, yet is much more unique and lively than you'd expect, and when it comes to executing that script to the screen, he charms and even impresses aesthetically with the help of Robert Elswit, who returns as Anderson's cinematographer and once again delivers on the good, whether it be through the occasional masterfully-lit shot, or sweeping camera tricks. Sure, the swinging of the camera may only exacerbate the aggravation spawned from the noise, but more often than not that cinematography catches your eye enjoyable fashion. The cinematography really catches your eyes, but what really claims your attention is the aforementioned charm within Anderson's script, which is sometiems overbearing to the point of diluting the charm, yet that force ultimately triumph in the end, being supplemented by sometimes snappy dialogue and frequently engaging storylines. These stories are believable and human, with even the harshest, most audacious pieces being told boldly and with realism and, towards the end, for some reason, surrealistic (Believe me, you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it), and as the stories roll into one another, although you may be confused, you're still enthralled as this film unravels to many twists and turns that P.T. Anderson, as both writer and director, nails, being matched in confidence only by his star-studded cast. Every single person in this film hits the occasional high, yet mostly hit lows, and rock-bottom ones at that, and not one of those performers are any less than powerful in their portrayals of people facing life changes that are mostly influenced by changes, whether it be Julianne Moore as the guilty widow-to-be, or Jeremy Blackman as the child tired of false attention, or William H. Macy as the man-child begging for any attention, or John C. Reilly as the gullible romantic facing realism, or Tom Cruise as the great vain man that faces comeuppance in the midst of life-changing discovery and so on, and so forth. Every performance is equal in quality and material, yet there's versatility all throughout the cast and it's all held together by moving chemistry between everyone. The film is as much a portrait of raw acting talent as it is a portrait of humanity, and watching these acting talents all come together to bring charisma, emotion and compellingness is one of the key elements that makes this film as good as it is, even if it's not as good as it should have been.

When it's all said and "finally" done, the film is taited by slow spots and some extreme convolution, yet just plain plagued by frequent, overbearing noise, messy focus and extreme looseness that leaves this should-be brilliant mammoth of a character study to become overlong and overwhelming, yet what leaves it to stand its ground is the uniqueness, charm and compelling audacity within both Paul Thomas Anderson's script and direction that, when mixed with gripping style and a wide range of powerful, layered and emotional lead performances and chemistry between every member of this massive, star-studded cast, ultimately leaving "Magnolia" to stand as a messy, but emotionally rewarding study on humanity and connections.

3/5 - Good.