Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000

(click here to skip to this movie's rating)

There will be some High Fallutin' Reviewers that will go on and on about how brilliantly unflawed a piece of art Magnolia was; about how it totally changed the way they see filumms; about how they came away with a catharsis that was better'n a good scromp on a hot summer's day. To those High Fallutin' Reviewers, I say, next time that pipe goes around, Just Say No. Which is to say, that was a weeeird farkin' movie. THE STORY (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**) Hellifi know. I'll let this wee bit o' text from the official Magnolia website do the honors: Earl Partridge (Jason Robards): Dying of cancer, his final wish is to communicate with his lost son; Linda Partridge (Julianne Moore): As the husband she married for money lies dying, she realizes she has fallen in love with him; Frank Mackey (Tom Cruise): Television guru of female seduction, Frank Mackey is at the top of his macho game, until he has to deal with his family; Stanley Spector (Jeremy Blackman): A child genius turned quiz show star, he has the answers to everything, except how to win his father's love; Rick Spector (Michael Bowen): Unable to keep his own life in order, he lives off his genius son's brilliance; Donnie Smith (Willliam H. Macy): A 1960s quiz show star, Donnie now is barely hanging on to his electronics store job and his dreams of love; Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall): Quiz show host and icon of family values, Jimmy Gator is the antithesis of his image; Rose Gator (Melinda Dillon): Ever faithful to her husband, Rose is about to hear his final - and worst - confessions; Claudia Wilson Gator (Melora Walters): Living on media saturation and cocaine, Claudia just wants to tell someone the truth; Officer Jim Kurring (John C. Reilly): Compassionate, bumbling LAPD officer Jim Kurring falls in love during a routine investigation; Phil Parma (Philip Seymour Hoffman): An at-home nurse, Phil Parma is a dutiful caretaker who hopes to reunite Earl Partridge with his estranged son; Dixon (Emmanuel Johnson): Budding con artist or street poet? Dixon is the eyes and voice of his neighborhood. Hope That Helps. THE UPSHOT Magnolia sets its story up at the start by telling three Tall Tales - otherwise known as "Urban Legends" (c.f. the "Urban Legends" website and "alt.folkore.urban" Usenet newsgroup) - as if they were real ("strange things happen all the time", the earnest narrator tells us). Having done so, it almost lost me as a viewer, up until the final act, at which point, I realized it was all one big Urban Legend [I don't want to give much away, but it has a wee bit to do with some objects on the movie poster. And that's all I'm gonna say about that. ribbit.] Not that having that knowledge made the movie gel as a whole, but it at least moved it squarely into the "fantasy" genre, thus moving the Disbelief Suspension Bar up a notch or three. But I find I still cannot tell you, dear viewer, what Magnolia was about - save redemption, forgiveness, weird teeth, and the power of a few frogs (well, more than a few, but I'm just sayin'). The thing that struck me as most interesting about Magnolia was how, in its jump-cut way (which, along with lead titles such as "Partly cloudy, 82% chance of rain", itself reminded me of a totally different flick, Steve Martin's My Blue Heaven. But yet again, I digress.), it dealt with similar character themes at the same time. Feeling like a morality play with skits and sketches, it was interesting to see one character (Earl) at the end stages of his sickness, and another (Jimmy Gator) at the beginning of his; likewise, has-been ex-Quiz Boy Donnie Smith could easily provide a mirror image to current Quiz Boy Rick Spector, a potential has-been himself - unless some Strange Thing occurs, perhaps? Throughout the very long (it felt way longer than The Green Mile) movie, we learn something about one character, only to learn something similar about the next: Linda, Donnie, and Claudia are Miserable - and here's why; Jim, Stanley, and Phil are Misunderstood - and here's why; and so on. Yet with all of this learning, we never really get to know any of the characters. Even at 195 minutes, there seems to be no time for full character development; perhaps out of design, or because of the large ensemble cast, there is no real feeling for the characters, except for Tom "This Is For The Oscar, Y'all!" Cruise's admittedly good performance as Frank Mackey, a Oprah-gone-radically-wrong, unattached-sex-is-All hawker who seems to be the embodiment of vengeance for all those fellas who have grown tired of women who cry "all men are dawgs!" In Mackey's world, the dawgs rule ("protect the cock...and pursue the cunt!" is his mantra), and indeed, he is Top Dawg. Only when a reporter brings him to his knees by bringing up his past, do we see that he's just a scared little boy behind his cocksure bravada. Alas, Frank is the only character in whom we are allowed to see some "real" development, though a couple other characters come close. Most of the characters were played as one-dimensional to serve their story's purpose: Earl is Sick, and ever remains so; Phil (Hoffman was terribly miscast here; his talents could've shined as almost any other character, but I saw his and the also normally-brilliant William H. Macy's characters, as being easily exchangeable) is Earl's Helper, on both the physical and spiritual plane; Linda's role, while nominally more developed than the other two in their triangle, still amounts to little more than Griefstricken Near-Widow. It's as if the movie's makers knew it was an ensemble, but still wanted Cruise's star power to lead them all through the wilderness come Oscar night. But - surprise surprise - someone else comes along to steal the show. Two someones, in fact: John C. Reilly as Officer Jim Kurring (a character that's very similar to one in a movie that I recently reviewed but can't quite put my finger on); he'll no doubt be listed as a supporting character to Cruise, but his portrayal was a centerpiece to this movie, one that, in my eyes, steered all the other stories to their conclusions. The second someone was a true supporting character in his arc, but again, the scenes he was in, belonged to him: Henry Gibson as Thurston Howell (!), a competitor to Donnie for the attention of a bartender they both have a thing for. Gibson and Macy seem to be from the same school of acting, but here, Gibson was the teacher; he Schooled Macy somethin' fierce. Though Macy is one of my favorite thespians (and a primary reason for me seeing this flick), I was disappointed by his acting; I never got the feel for his Donnie, and found him more pathetic than sympathetic. His scene with the Solomon brothers (Alfred Molina as Soloman Soloman, Miguel Perez as Avi Solomon), though, was great; their questioning him about his dental care, had me crackin' up. There were many other noteworthy scenes and characters, but I'd be all day in describing them here. All-in-all, Magnolia is one of those Experiences that one sees because "everybody's seeing it"; given the right frame of mind (and a nap beforehand, perhaps), it can be enjoyable enough. As long as you're not particularly picky about movies having a discernable beginning, middle, and end. Other than that... THE "BLACK FACTOR"    [ObDisclaimer: We Are Not A Monolith] First, seeing as it's the start of the new year, I may need to explain something about the "Black Factor" for those readers joining the program already in progress: it isn't at all an "anti-White thing", as one reader complained to me via email (neither, for that fact, is 3BC itself; we are Black- and female-owned, but not exclusionary. But I digress), nor do I believe that each and every movie has a politically-Black factor involved. My noticing things of import to me as a Black viewer is simply that: my noticing things of import to me as a Black viewer. These things may or may not strike Black Viewer #2 as all that important, nor will Black Viewer #2 necessarily agree with my assessment of same. Hence, "We Are Not A Monolith". Kapeech? Coolness. Now that that's out of the way... Strange, said she, that Our representation in Magnolia comes via three characters: the uncredited Marcy, a big, loud Black woman who defines the mindset "Crime Makes You Stupid"; Dixon, a young boy who communicates best by rapping; and Denise (Denise Woolwine), a female reporter so seemingly unreceptive to Frank Mackey's charms (or he, to her potential as a - in his words - cunt to be tamed) that he undresses down to his skivvies in front of her - and she, the safe non-White female, doesn't even blink. But maybe that's just me, noticing things. BAMMER'S BOTTOM LINE Greenlight ratings not all being equal, I'll have to swim against the tide of Highbrow Artflick Reviewers here, even though I'm giving this one the highest mark we currently have available. Uneven though it were, Magnolia gets props for Thinking Different ["farkin' weeeeird", I think I called it], though if you look closely enough at the individual tales, it's not really all that earth-shatteringly different. Except for the frogs. MAGNOLIA:   back to top And that's the way I see it. Rose "Bams" Cooper 3BlackChicks Review™ Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com    ICQ: 7760005 http://www.3blackchicks.com/