Take a large mixing bowl, stir in a wealthy man on his deathbed whose wife is suffused with guilt over having married him for his money, add the man's son and the guilt the dying man has for abandoning the son when the boy was a lad of 14 because the man couldn't handle the cancer that was killing the man's first wife. Then stir in a game show where kids compete against adults that's produced by the wealthy man and hosted by a 30 year television veteran who has skeletons of his own that are about to surface. Add the current wunderkind of the kid portion of the show and his demanding father, the daughter of the game-show host and her coke habit, and then for flavor, add a nurse at the home of the original dying man who is eager to please, and a cop and you have the main players of this long, intriguing and yet flawed film by Paul T. Anderson.

Anderson, who is revisiting the Valley after the success of his prior film Boogie Nights which took an in-depth look at the porn industry that is headquartered in the Valley, wrote and directed this 188 miasma of brilliance and wasted celluloid.

The acting itself is brilliant. If the key job of the director is to get the most from his or her actors then Anderson succeeded beyond anyone's expectations. Aside from great work from Anderson film vets Julianne Moore, William H. Macy and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, there is an absolutely amazing performance by Tom Cruise. Cruise, playing Frank T.J. Mackey, who is the estranged son of the wealthy Big Earl Partridge, gives what I think is the finest work of his career thus far. I could go on and on about the actors, and I don't want to omit John C. Reilly as Officer Jim Kurring, who also gave a great performance.

It's in the story and the length of the film that Magnolia becomes less than it might have been. Magnolia runs 188 minutes, which is about 36 more minutes than Boogie Nights. Even that masterpiece was a bit too long, so you begin to understand. Sometimes less is more and this was one of those times.

The jumping from storyline to storyline works well, particularly since it's all chronologically in sequence. But there is more than we need of some subplots and not enough of others. The only one that is mixed about right is the main theme involving the wealthy, dying man, Big Earl Patridge (Jason Robards in yet another strong performance). What is also tragic is that the best writing is in the third act, and by the time we're being given the payoff, we've waited around just a tad too long to fully enjoy it.

Ultimately Magnolia is worth seeing, because of the strong performances (fans of the old comedy series Laugh-In will love Arte Johnson in a small role as a bar patron). Just make sure if you need a drink to get through a regular length movie to buy the next larger size for Magnolia. By the time it's over, you'll be glad you did.