Although he looks to be one actor short of perfection this time out, "Boogie Nights" and "Hard Eight" auteur Paul Thomas Anderson has scooped up a bushel of mostly positive reviews for the L.A. stories collected in "Magnolia." Heir apparent to Robert Altman, Anderson thinks nothing of turning out three-hour epics and daring audiences to dive in.

The young writer-director also fronts an attitude strikingly similar to Orson Welles', once saying that "Writing and directing are for free. That part is free. You'd do that no matter what. You get paid to deal with idiots who don't care about movies." Will the system eventually eat Anderson alive as it did Welles, or throw him out on the margins as it did Altman? Whatever the future holds, Anderson's latest feature looks to be an artistic triumph. If it fails to catch on at the box office, however, the filmmaker likely will find himself battling the studio "idiots" a bit harder for final cut next time around.

"Magnolia" does have one sure winner, though: Tom Cruise, after turning in an embarrassing performance in the dreadful "Eyes Wide Shut," made enough of his "Magnolia" turn to score a Golden Globe nomination. If the pint-size superstar's supporting role generates enough buzz to draw the multiplex crowd in to see the dark tale of SoCal's moral decay, Anderson just might be able to boogie his way to his next big project.

Frank Sennett

Newcity.com affiliates plant their opinions of "Magnolia":

PEDAL TO THE MENTAL
"Magnolia"'s three-hour tour examines the emotional straits of its compelling losers

THE MIRACLE OF GRACE
Without a single image of a church or the utterance of a syllable by a cleric, "Magnolia" is a devoutly religious a film

BLOOMING WONDER
It's an amazing director indeed who can fuse Martin Scorsese's speed-freak virtuosity and Robert Altman's kaleidoscopic character studies into a whole new hybrid

FLOWER POWER
"Magnolia" director Paul Thomas Anderson weighs in on Tom Cruise and working with girlfriend Fiona Apple

WAGES OF SIN
"Magnolia" plumbs the hard-knock lives of a group of Los Angelenos

BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS
"Magnolia" is a sprawling, dazzling, frustrating and brilliant bouquet of a film that's epic and intimate at the same time

INHERENT CONTRADICTIONS
"Magnolia" is such an amalgam of brilliance and self-indulgent crap that it may go down in history as the most impossible film to critique

STALKING GREATNESS
P.T. Anderson lives large with the unwieldy, intriguing "Magnolia"

WONDERFUL MESS
"Magnolia" is a stunning movie typical of a genius who has stared at his own reflection and fallen in love

EPIC ACHIEVEMENT
"Magnolia" is not quite a great film, but it's still an engrossing powerhouse of imagination, ensemble acting and direction

BLOOM'S DAY
"Magnolia" could have been the best film of the year if only P.T. Anderson had taken the advice of a good script editor

REACHING FOR THE SKY
Random chances and inevitable coincidences fuel the glory and the gaffes of this Anderson opus

HEAVY WEATHER
Sins of the father. Sins of the child. No difference.

PAST IMPERFECT
"Magnolia" is an unquestionably moving effort from director Paul Thomas Anderson

A DAY IN THE STRIFE
"Magnolia" may be the most magnificent failure since Terry Gilliam's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"

L.A.-VILLE?
"Magnolia" bears resemblance to Altman's "Nashville," but it will stand on its own

FAMILY AFFAIRS
Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson blooms with "Magnolia"

PAINFUL GENEALOGY
This audacious film about the intersecting lives of 12 characters is one glorious mess

GRAND ILLUSION
Visionary or vacuous? One thing the epic "Magnolia" isn't is dull.

LOFTY AMBITIONS
"Magnolia" is an exciting-but-maddening follow-up to "Boogie Nights"

COINCIDENTAL BREAKDOWN
On P.T. Anderson's "Magnolia" and the art of capturing the unknowable

FAMILY MATTERS
At its core, "Magnolia" is a film about repercussions, particularly the way the sins of the father play out in the warped lives of his children

IN BLOOM
Anderson's sprawling epic is an excessive movie about excess

WILTED
Anderson forgets how to boogie in the overly long, sporadic "Magnolia"

FLOWER POWER
"Magnolia" blossoms under the direction of Paul Thomas Anderson

VOICES CARRY
"Magnolia: Music From the Motion Picture" shows that Aimee Mann is Paul Thomas Anderson's muse