Magnolia (1999)

Magnolia gives nearly every character a full meltdown, and at 188 minutes it has time for all of them. That’s the problem and the point. Paul Thomas Anderson stacks emotional peaks on top of each other until your nerves beg for an intermission that never comes. Tom Cruise is the loudest thing in it, a swaggering self-help guru for angry, lonely men who prowls the stage like a rock star until a TV interview slowly takes him apart. It might be his best work ever. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the soul of the movie as a nurse on the phone, gently begging strangers to help a dying man. John C. Reilly’s lonely cop is so earnest it hurts. Late in the movie, the whole cast sings along to Wise Up, and it’s either genius or nuts depending on your mood. A 7.7 because the highs are huge and the movie never learned when to stop. $544 says you check how much is left at the halfway point, groan, and then refuse to turn it off.

What works: Tom Cruise’s swagger and collapse, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s tender nurse, and the fearless Wise Up sing-along.

What doesn’t: At 188 minutes it piles one emotional climax on another until it’s exhausting, and some storylines feel like they’re shouting over each other.

Who it’s for: Grown-ups with a free evening who love sprawling ensemble dramas and don’t mind being emotionally flattened.