Magnolia (film) - Plot

Plot

As the film opens, a narrator asks us to consider the meaning of three urban legends and the role of chance in life, while the characters' intentions are thwarted time and again as the story leapfrogs through their tangled lives.

Police officer Jim Kurring is sent to investigate a disturbance and finds a body, but is unable to apprehend a suspect despite the fact that a neighborhood boy tries to tell him by rapping who committed the murder. From there Jim goes to Claudia Wilson's apartment, where the neighbors complained of her loud music, after she rejected her dying father's attempt at reconciliation. Claudia is a cocaine addict and her father is famous children's game show host Jimmy Gator, whom she has accused of molesting her. Jim likes her and prolongs the visit, though it is awkward, and talks her into a date before he leaves.

That night the newest child prodigy on Jimmy Gator's show, Stanley Spector, takes the lead as the show begins and it becomes clear he is resented by the other kids. He is hounded by his father for the prize money, and demeaned by the surrounding adults, who refuse to let him use the bathroom during a commercial break. When the show resumes, he wets himself and freezes, humiliated when everyone realizes what happened. As the show continues Jimmy sickens, and he even orders the show to go on after he collapses on stage. But after Stanley's father berates him for freezing on the air Stanley refuses to return for the final round.

Watching the show from a bar, Donnie Smith, a former champion, has become desperate for love and attention in the years since he left. Donnie is obsessed with oral surgery, thinking he will land the man of his dreams after he gets braces, and becomes despondent when he is fired. He hatches a plan to get back at his boss by breaking in and stealing the money he needs for his braces.

The show's former producer Earl Partridge is also dying of cancer. Earl's trophy wife, Linda, collects his prescriptions for morphine while he is cared for by a nurse, Phil Parma. Earl asks Phil to find his estranged son, Frank Mackey, who is peddling a misogynist self-help course to men. Earl was a womanizer who abandoned his wife and son, but Frank has claimed the opposite, and now suggests that men should use women and discard them before they become victims. Frank is in the midst of defending himself to a journalist when Phil finally gets through to Frank's assistant, and he begins weeping when he learns his father wants to see him.

After a histrionic confrontation with a pharmacist who questions her about the drugs she is collecting, Linda goes to see Earl's lawyer, begging him to change Earl's will. She married Earl for his money, but now loves him and doesn't want it. The lawyer suggests that she renounce the will and refuse the money, which would then go to Frank. Linda rejects his advice and leaves in a rage. When she gets home Linda berates Phil for seeking out Frank, but later apologizes, before going out to her car and taking all the pills she's collected. The boy who tried to help Jim catch the murderer finds Linda in her car, near death, and calls an ambulance after taking money from her purse.

Before his date with Claudia, Jim loses his gun in pursuit of a jaywalker, then almost gets shot. When he meets Claudia they promise to be honest with each other, so he confesses his ineptitude as a cop and admits he has not been on a date since he was divorced three years ago. Claudia asks him never to see her again, saying he will hate her because of her problems, but Jim assures her they don't matter. They kiss before she runs off.

Jimmy Gator goes home to his wife Rose and suddenly tells her he cheated on her. She asks why Claudia does not talk to him, and Jimmy admits that Claudia believes he molested her. But when he says he cannot remember whether he did, Rose tells Jimmy he deserves to die alone, and she walks out on him. Jimmy decides to kill himself.

Meanwhile Donnie lets himself into his old office but his key breaks in the lock. As he drives away with the money he realizes the foolishness of what he is doing, and goes back but can't get in because of the broken key. Jim is driving by as Donnie climbs up a utility pole to get in through the roof, and stops the car to see what he is doing. Suddenly, they are all in the midst of a raining animal event, with frogs falling from the sky. As Jimmy is about to shoot himself, frogs fall through his skylight, causing him to shoot the TV instead and set the house on fire. Rose crashes her car en route to Claudia's apartment. Phil administers a lethal dose of morphine to Earl, who dies as Frank watches, sobbing and disgorging a stream of invective against the father who was the real villain in his life while begging him not to die. Donnie is knocked from the pole and smashes his teeth, while Jim's gun falls from the sky and lands in front of him. As the rain of frogs ceases, Rose and Claudia are reconciled.

After Jim helps Donnie replace the money, he goes to see Claudia, telling her that he wants to make things work between them, and she smiles in reply. Frank goes to visit Linda, who is recovering in the hospital. Stanley, on his way to bed, tells his father that he needs to be nicer to him.

The narrator reminds us to consider once more the coincidences from the stories at the beginning of the film.