Magnolia 2000, Rated R New Line Home Video

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Starring Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, Julianne Moore, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, et al. Released to DVD on July 25, 2000.

Magnolia is no different than writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson's (PT) first two films, Boogie Nights and Hard Eight. Where Magnolia differs is in the quality of the final cut. Almost a mini series at 188 minutes long, PT's screenplay follows the somewhat intertwined lives of 10 people in southern California. Unlike Boogie Nights, though, there is no unifying thread (like the porn industry) connecting the events at hand; the characters are merely 10 random people (played by Jason Robards, Julianne Moore, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly and Tom Cruise, among others) who may or may not interact or be related to the other characters. Cruise's part is especially well acted, but in the long run, I forgot about this. What I remember is that this movie took the entire month of June to get through and had a very holier-than-thou attitude surrounding it. Unfortunately, it seems as though PT has become more enchanted with the notion of being PT Anderson than anything else, and this film is a reflection of this: pompous, overbearing and lengthy to an extreme.