Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5318 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-01-02
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French, German
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 186 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A handful of people in California's San Fernando Valley are having one hell of a day. TV mogul Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) is on his deathbed; his trophy wife (Julianne Moore) is stockpiling tranquilliser prescriptions all over town with alarming determination. Earl's nurse (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is trying desperately to get in touch with Earl's only son, sex-guru Frank TJ Mackey (Tom Cruise), who's about to have his carefully constructed past blown by a TV reporter (April Grace). Whiz kid Stanley (Jeremy Blackman) is being goaded by his selfish dad into breaking the record for the game show What Do Kids Know? Meanwhile, Stanley's predecessor, the grown-up quiz kid Donnie Smith (William H. Macy) has lost his job and is nursing a severe case of unrequited love. And the host of What Do Kids Know?, the affable Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall), like Earl, is dying of cancer, and his attempt to reconcile with his cokehead daughter (Melora Walters) fails miserably. She, meanwhile, is running hot and cold with a cop (John C. Reilly) who would love to date her, if she can sit still for long enough. And over it all, a foreboding sky threatens to pour something more than just rain.

This third feature from Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights) is a maddening, magnificent piece of film-making, and an ensemble film to rank with the best of Robert Altman (Short Cuts, Nashville)--every little piece of the film means something, solidly placed for a reason. Deftly juggling a breathtaking ensemble of actors, Anderson crafts a tale of neglectful parents, resentful children and love-starved souls that's amazing in scope, both thematically and emotionally. Part of the charge of Magnolia is seeing exactly how may characters Anderson can juggle, and can he keep all those balls in air (indeed he can, even if it means throwing frogs into the mix). And it's been far too long since we've seen a film-maker whose love of making movies is so purely joyful. This electric energy is reflected in the actors, from Cruise's revelatory performance to Reilly's quietly powerful turn as the moral centre of the story. While at three hours it's definitely not suited to everyone's taste, Magnolia is a compelling, heartbreaking, ultimately hopeful meditation on the accidents of chance that make up our lives. The soundtrack features eight wonderful songs by Aimee Mann, including "Save Me", around which Anderson built the script. --Mark Englehart

Independent On Sunday
Brilliant...superb...a great film.

Special Features
16:9 Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1

Customer Reviews

Deep
It depends on the type of movie you like. Fast & Furious, Transformers, Transporter, Gone in 60 seconds it bears no resemblance. Great films, Citizen Kane, The Godfather I & II, Apocalypse Now, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull it stands shoulder to shoulder. This is a film makers film. Coppola, Wells, Scorsese and Spielberg at his most poignant are in this bracket. Tom Cruise is good but a drop in the ocean. ALL the actors produce performances of astonishing quality. All of them.
Multilayered, encompassing and deep it's like a soap opera that is truely a classic opera of a film. Tension is built through different scenes involving each of the characters who all have traumatic experiences in a explosional crescendo of dramatic, touching and heartfelt moments. Repeated viewing only enhances the experience. Just don't expect Top Gun or an action packed popcorn movie.

PT Anderson has not made a bad movie and this is no exception. A common feature is his soundtrack. Music can add so much to a film and here pop songs intermingle with a dramatic orchestral score giving the end product a feel reminiscent of Goodfellas mixed with Love Story. The film itself was born from an Aimee Mann song, a major contributor to the film soundtrack. At a pivitol point in the film the cast mouth/ sing along to Ms Mann's tones resonating each ones predicament. At this point we see inside them.
It's a film that's different but nonetheless, classic. A must for movie enthusiasts with taste. Personally I cannot speak highly enough to merit this films credentials.

3 hour long episode of a soap opera
Just seemed to me like a load of episodes of a soap opera condensed into one. Lots of rather meaningless plots, some maybe even interwoven.
A lot of people seem to like this film, but a warning to the rest of you, it is like that film 'Crash', the one with Sandra Bullock in it. No plot, no story, just interminable.

Some people have said that those who don't like this film are "thickies", and only like Die Hard etc., well you are entitled to your opinions, what a pity you don't have any respect for any other peoples' opinions when they don't coincide with your own.

Yours Thick Nic, BSc. Physics, favourite film 'A Beautiful Mind'.

Extraordinary!
Well I think that this may be one of the best half dozen films I have ever seen...
After a first, extraordinary, blitzkreig fifteen minutes of images and scenes, which must be one of the best opening sequences you're ever likely to see, the pace never slackens. The film never drags at any point, and the artistry and intelligence of the film-making propels you through the stories and astounds you at the same time.
The interweaving of characters and scenes is brilliantly done, all the acting is superb, and Tom Cruise in particular is an amazing presence. Just fantastic!