The Paul Thomas Anderson movie that Kevin Smith called “cinematic root canal”
Hot off the heels of his sophomore feature, Boogie Nights, Paul Thomas Anderson followed up in 1999 with a three-hour sprawling drama that followed the interconnected lives of roughly two dozen people living in the San Fernando Valley. Magnolia was an epic exploration into guilt, regret and isolation, with a strong undercurrent of chance and coincidence. Despite failing to make the same box office dent as his previous bombastic porn saga had in 1997, the movie was a critical success.
Anderson’s third feature won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Festival and drew widespread praise for its potent atmosphere, vibrant and kinetic cinematography, masterful direction and dazzling ensemble cast. Most notably among the roster of A-listers, which included the likes of Juliane Moore and Philip Baker Hall, was Tom Cruise’s minor yet powerful role as the emotionally suppressed professional pick-up artist. With his absurd mantras, such as “Respect the cock!” Cruise’s character of Frank TJ Mackey remains a career best.
However, amid all the fanfare and praise being showered upon Anderson, there was one contemporary filmmaker who was less than amused by the Magnolia buzz: Kevin Smith. Smith, who had emerged like Anderson in the up-and-coming filmmaking wave of the 1990s, was one of the earliest to engage regularly with the then-fledgling internet. It’s a relationship which has served him well, developing into one of the first podcast businesses that Smith still operates today.
But back in 1999, he took to his own online posting board to trashtalk Anderson’s new movie. “They sent me an Academy screener DVD this week,” Smith wrote. “I’ll never watch it again, but I will keep it. I’ll keep it right on my desk as a constant reminder that a bloated sense of self-importance is the most unattractive quality in a person or their work.” Even back in the late 1990s, before what was once called Twitter was even a whiff of an idea, this badmouthing of Anderson caused havoc.
Not long after, Smith took again to his board, this time to double down and defend his comments from “P.T. Anderson apostles… demanding justice for a fucking opinion! I’ve got assholes shooting off their mouths with shit like, ‘You only WISH you were as good as PT!’ What am I – nine years old? Is this the fourth grade?” Smith continued.
He added: “Hey man, I enjoy Boogie Nights. I didn’t enjoy Magnolia. Maybe I’ll cream my pants over the guy’s next flick. But sweet Christmas! What the fuck do you care? You liked Magnolia? Wonderful. Me? I found it to be a cinematic root canal.”
Referencing the Robert Altman ensemble piece, which came out six years earlier and undoubtedly had more than just a minor influence on Magnolia, with Anderson self-confessing to be “little Bobbie Altman“, Smith said, “I’ll take Short Cuts any old day”.
Over 20 years later, however, Smith had learned something important: he was wrong. “Now I love Magnolia. I wanna go back in time and explain this to Young Kevin Smith – that petulant ass-hat”.
So, why did he slag off Anderson’s picture in the first place? “It was largely because critics were giving it more attention than [Smith’s 1999 film] Dogma.”
