One of Tom Cruise’s all-time great performances can be found in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 film Magnolia. While Cruise has become a monolithic figure in the action genre over the last decade or more, he has starred in dozens of dramas and several comedies throughout the years, some of which include A Few Good Men (1992), Rain Man (1988), Collateral (2004), American Made (2017), The Firm (1993), and Tropic Thunder (2008). Thanks to Cruise’s latest deal with Warner Bros. and modern interest in returning to dramas, Cruise could be the closest to eyeing his first Oscar win after last being nominated in 1999.

Cruise had originally starred in more traditional dramas, comedies, and other genre films before the meteoric rise of his Mission: Impossible and Top: Gun franchises. He made his feature film debut in the tragic romantic drama Endless Love (1981) before rising to prominence as the star of Risky Business (1983), The Color of Money (1986), and the original Top Gun (1986). Cruise has been nominated for 3 Best Actor Oscars for Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Jerry Maguire (1996), and Magnolia (1999). Cruise has also starred in some impressive sci-fi movies, such as 2013’s Oblivion, 2013’s Edge of Tomorrow, and 2002’s Minority Report.

Magnolia Was Tom Cruise’s Last Acting Oscar Nomination – What It’s About

Magnolia was Paul Thomas Anderson’s third directorial effort

Magnolia toys with concepts of fate and coincidence to create an elaborate web of intersectionality between several robust characters.

Magnolia is one of Paul Thomas Anderson’s best movies with a stellar ensemble cast featuring Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, John C. Reilly, Patton Oswalt, and more. Magnolia was the third directorial effort by PTA after 1997’s Boogie Nights starring Mark Wahlberg and Burt Reynolds and his feature film debut Hard Eight (1996). Anderson, who has been nominated for 11 Oscars for There Will Be Blood (2007), Inherent Vice (2014), Phantom Thread (2017), and Licorice Pizza (2021), is currently working on an untitled film starring Leonardo DiCaprio that is currently scheduled for a 2025 release.

With a 3-hour and 8-minute runtime, Magnolia is a truly unique viewing experience described as a psychological and dramatic epic. It’s one of those films that feature several characters in various scenarios that are seemingly unrelated to each other but ultimately overlap in meaningful ways by the film’s ending. The film takes place over the course of 24 hours in Los Angeles and toys with concepts of fate and coincidence to create an elaborate web of intersectionality between several robust characters. Magnolia is best viewed without knowing too much beforehand, as all of the characters experience life-changing events for better and for worse.

Why Tom Cruise Deserved The Oscar For Magnolia

Frank Mackey remains one of the most complex characters of Cruise’s career

Cruise had just recently come off starring in Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut before starring in Magnolia , so his natural progression to a Paul Thomas Anderson film certainly trends.

Tom Cruise plays one of several integral characters in Magnolia but is unsurprisingly one of the most memorable in the leading role. Cruise plays Frank T.J. Mackey, an aggressive dating guru in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles with a ridiculous and over-the-top approach to dating. A victim of generational trauma which has made him a highly misogynistic adult, Mackey comes up with his own philosophy and approach to dating and tries to inspire other disenfranchised men to follow in his footsteps by “taming” romantic partners. There is a palpable air of satire revolving around Cruise’s character in Magnolia, which serves a clear purpose in PTA’s visionary film.

Cruise had just recently come off starring in Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut alongside Nicole Kidman before starring in Magnolia, so his natural progression to a Paul Thomas Anderson film certainly trends and fits logically. Cruise has played several characters that carry an element of satire and are caricatures of societal and cultural problems at large, with his hilarious role as Lex Grossman in Tropic Thunder serving as another example. Cruise was able to masterfully portray the problematic character of Frank Mackey to serve the purpose of PTA’s Magnolia, which is why he deserved the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2000, ultimately losing to Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules.

Magnolia Is Still One Of Tom Cruise’s Best Performances

Critics praised Cruise’s handling of a complicated satirical character

Critics praised Cruise’s performance as one of the many key aspects of Magnolia that make it a grand cinematic achievement. Legendary film critic Roger Ebert wrote in his 4/4 star review of the film, “Magnolia is operatic in its ambition, a great, joyous leap into melodrama and coincidence, with ragged emotions, crimes and punishments, deathbed scenes, romantic dreams, generational turmoil and celestial intervention, all scored to insistent music.” He also called Cruise’s “T.J.” character a “loathsome stud” whose infomercials on how to seduce women sound like “they could have been scripted by Andrew Dice Clay.”

Stephen Dalton of The Times (UK) wrote in his review, “Tom Cruise is highly impressive in his stand-out supporting role as an embittered misogynist teaching military-style seduction techniques to sex-starved men.” Terry Lawson of the Detroit Free Press shared similar sentiments on Cruise’s unforgettable performance. “Anderson’s ability to wring remarkable performances out of actors is proven not just by Cruise’s… scary-hilarious portrayal of the self-deluded misogynist Mackey, but also by the incredible performances of Moore and Robards and young Jeremy Blackman.”

Could Tom Cruise’s New Movie Finally Win Him An Oscar?

Cruise deserves a Best Actor Oscar as much as any Hollywood star

It’s somewhat astonishing that Cruise has yet to be nominated for a Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor nomination at the Academy Awards in 25 years. The fact that he wasn’t nominated for Top Gun: Maverick, a film that Steven Spielberg credited for revitalizing a suffering post-pandemic Hollywood box office, sparked some outrage among viewers and even his co-star Miles Teller. Cruise continues to star in one of the best action franchises of all time in Mission: Impossible and likely would have been nominated for several Best Stunt awards had they been recognized at the Oscars.

Still, 25 years later, Magnolia remains to be his most recent acting Oscar nomination. That fact could be subject to change due to his upcoming movie with director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, which will pair him with a slate of extraordinary and award-winning actors. Cruise will be joined onscreen by Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler), John Goodman (The Big Lebowski), Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me By Your Name), Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog), and Sophie Wilde (Talk to Me). While the plot details and title currently remain under wraps, there are already sky-high expectations that make it one of Tom Cruise’s most exciting dramatic projects in years.