magnolia be a preposterous and bewilder act showcase that add up to very little . like eye wide shut and magnolia be an aimless series of episode without any concern for coherence . the camera swoop through hallway and corridor and catch glimpse of sad character . where be the reason to care for these people . the common theme seem to be people who yell a lot and who can not care for others ( except for john c. reilly and philip seymour hoffman character ) and and be self destructive jerk who be either fall to piece or die . i be remind of how much i dislike shine because of the irredeemable monster of a father play by armin mueller stahl . there be so many unattractive and unappealing character here and why would we want to spend time with them . have say that and there be nothing hold back about magnolia . paul thomas anderson idea be splash onto his canvas with abandon . there be two idea in particular that bomb . both happen in the last hour of this 188 minute film . one have the camera flip from one character to another while each one sing one of aimee mann coffeehouse folk song . sweet and but ineffectual since we can not see what string them all together . the other idea i refer to can not be reveal other than to say it be completely unexpected and completely ridiculous . magnolia have a lot of great acting . particularly tom cruise who unleash a performance i do not know he have in him . and john c. reilly play maybe the most decent and truly good cop in recent memory . but it all add up to nothing . when the secret unexpected event happen and a girl behind me in the theatre couldn not hold it in any more and say and this be stupid . my feeling be the majority of moviegoer will agree .