Paul Thomas Anderson, Michael De Luca
Jason Robards Jr., Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Baker Hall, Melora Walters, John C. Reilly, Melinda Dillon, William H. Macy, Michael Bowen, Jeremy Blackman, Emmanuel Johnson
It's a really long, frantic, and surreal look into a 24-hour series of interlocking stories, with a fine ensemble cast. Bad dads Jimmy Gator (Hall) and Earl Partridge (Robards) are both dying and estranged from their children--Jimmy's coke-addicted daughter, Claudia (Walters), and Earl's flashy motivational speaker son, Frank (Cruise). Earl's trophy wife Linda (Moore) is having a breakdown but he's being cared for by kind-hearted nurse Phil (Hoffman). And then there's a popular game show (of which Jimmy is the host) and its current and past quiz kids, and a rain of frogs, and everyone suddenly breaks into song, and, well, just watch it.