Both The Big Lebowski and Magnolia (1999, Paul Thomas Anderson) star Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore. What's interesting about the film is that it exhibits their ability to completely antithesis the previous role. In Lewbowski, Hoffman plays a sycophantic assistant to the rich Lebowski character. Here he plays a loser struggling as a care worker, who is kind and sympathetic. Moore, in Lebowski plays a free-wheeling, eccentric artist, plays an uptight irate wife a of a millionaire.

The film itself is complete genius. It consists of heavily interweving storylines set in the San Fernando Valley, which range from paranoia, to cancer, to insecure celebrities and young geniuses. What I feel Anderson is really trying to talk about here is chance and coincidence, which are heavy themes in the film. My initial reaction was that of unease, as the idea of a three hour film with several plots sounded messy and too full-on, but after watching, I found that these plot lines weave together into a dazzling and amazing piece of cinema.

I feel like Anderson as completely shrunk other writer-directors by seemlessly interlinking complex stories in such a film. Nevertheless, this film is absolutely incredible and I would recommend it to any body who loves true drama.