Home > Magnolia (movie)

It stars Julianne Moore, Jason Robards, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Luis Guzmán, Philip Baker Hall , April Grace , Ricky Jay, Orlando Jones, William H. Macy, Alfred Molina, Jeremy Blackman , Michael Murphy , John C. Reilly, Melinda Dillon , Melora Walters , Michael Bowen , Thomas JaneThomas Jane (born January 29, 1969 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American actor. Born Thomas Elliott he made his film debut in 1986, and played one of his earliest roles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). He had supporting roles in several high profile f and Felicity HuffmanFelicity Huffman (born December 9, 1962 in Bedford, New York, USA) is an actress whose work has included roles in the motion picture Magnolia the television dramedy Sports Night and the television drama Desperate Housewives''. She is married to actor Will. The length of the film is 188 minutes.

1 Overview

Magnolia starts with an intro describing three factual events which set the mood for the movie by urging the audience to think about supposed coincidences which occur "all the time". The events are:

1. Sir Edmund William Godfrey, a resident of Greenberry Hill , London, UK, is murdered by three vagrants by the names Joseph Green, Stanley Berry, and Daniel Hill.
2. A scuba diver, Delmer Darion , dies of a heart attack when he is accidentally picked up by a firefighting airplane scooping water to put out a forest fire. The pilot of the plane, Craig Hansen, had met Darion a few days prior at the casino where he worked as a blackjack dealer, and had started a fight with him. The guilt and the measure of coincidence caused the pilot to commit suicide.
3. A 14 year old boy, Sydney Barringer, whose attempted suicide by jumping off the roof of his apartment building became a "successful homicide" when he was accidentally shot by his mother as he fell past his own apartment window. His parents regularly argued and threatened each other with a shotgun, which was not normally kept loaded. Sydney had loaded the gun a few days prior so that his parents would make good on their threats to kill each other, and in doing so, unwittingly became an accomplice in his own murder.

The movie then goes on to introduce the main characters:

• Frank T.J. Mackey ( Tom Cruise), author of "Seduce and Destroy", a self-help system for men to get women to sleep with them.
• Linda Partridge ( Julianne Moore), a woman dealing with her husband's terminal illness and feelings of guilt for her infidelity.
• "Quiz Kid" Donnie Smith ( William H. Macy), who won a large sum of money on the television game show What Do Kids Know? in the 1970s, but whose life has gone downhill since then.
• Stanley Spector ( Jeremy Blackman ), a current contestant on What Do Kids Know?
• Phil Parma ( Philip Seymour Hoffman), a nurse working for the terminally ill Earl Partridge.
• Claudia Wilson Gator ( Melora Walters ), daughter of Jimmy Gator, who is independently wealthy, plagued by psychological problems, and addicted to cocaine.
• Jimmy Gator ( Phillip Baker Hall ), host of What Do Kids Know?.
• Earl Partridge ( Jason Robards), a wealthy television producer with terminal lung cancer.
• Officer Jim Kurring ( John C. Reilly), a divorced and lonely police officer.

The characters are interesting in and of themselves, but the movie is more about the connections between the characters:

The plot reveals all these relationships over a number of interlocking events, including:

• A crime that investigators think was committed by the Worm (played by Orlando Jones in scenes that were deleted).
• The filming of an episode of What Do Kids Know?, a general knowledge game show that pits children against adults.
• A noise complaint that leads to an awkward conversation, and eventually a date between Jim and Claudia.
• Donnie's attempt to woo a braces-wearing bartender, Brad. His love for him results in an attempt to steal money from the employer who fired him to pay for braces that he does not need.
• An interview in which a reporter attempts to break inside the emotional wall that Frank hides behind.
• The last hours of Earl, which complicate Linda's life with a number of vital decisions and in which a desperate Phil attempts to fulfil Earl's wish to see the son that disowned him, Frank.

At the end of the movie, an unlikely event occurs - frogs rain from the sky. While the event is unexpected, it is explainable. Earlier, a boy named Dixon tells Jim that "when the sunshine don't work, the good Lord bring the rain in." A Bible verse frequently referenced and alluded to in the film, Exodus 8:2, states that "if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs." Many of the film's other strange occurrences (such as quotes that seem odd or out of place) can be explained (see the link to Cigarettes and Coffee's Magnolia page below for more information).

The movie ends with the narrator urging the audience to think again about the coincidences mentioned in the intro, implying that the unlikely connections between the characters in the movie are similar.