The premise of this Woody Allen film going in sounds extremely captivating: take a story and then try to approach it two separate ways - once as a comedy, then as a tragedy. We begin with a typical Allen setup from older films like Broadway DANNY ROSE where another group of people are having dinner in a restaurant, and two playrights begin to discuss and relate the events we're about to see unfold. This time they're debating amongst themselves whether a life story works best as a "dramatic tragedy" or a "comedy".
When I settled in I expected that we were going to see the same cast of characters, actors, settings and scenes, only that they'd be doing the same basic narrative from two parallel sides (one funny and the other serious), which would have been a bit more intriguing. Instead, neither story reflected its other in any way, except that the central characters are two opposite kinds of girls named Melinda and are played by the same actress (Radha Mitchell). Mitchell is a dysfunctional, depressed, suicidal wreck of a neurotic in the tragic side of the movie, while her comical persona is more bouncy and fun to be around. Ms. Mitchell is actually quite good in conveying both parts.
The supporting players change between both stories ... in the tragedy version, the messed up Melinda with a shattered past crashes at the home of her friend Laurel (Chloe Sevigny) and her husband (Jonny Lee Miller). She causes a strain on their already troubled marriage, as Melinda herself seeks to find a reason to want to live; in the comical version, the more likable Melinda spends her time with a female director and her nebbish husband (Will Farrell), who just happens to fall in love with her. Farrell is basically filling in for Woody here, as he gets all the same nerdy lines and mannerisms you'd expect Allen to do himself, had he been young enough to take on the part. Sometimes the too-tall Farrell's Woody impersonation is effective and there are some occasionally witty lines, but one cannot help feeling it should have been Allen on the screen doing them. MELINDA AND MELINDA is fair enough, but it's still ultimately another familiar essay from Woody Allen on his studies of human relationships. **1/2 out of ****
When I settled in I expected that we were going to see the same cast of characters, actors, settings and scenes, only that they'd be doing the same basic narrative from two parallel sides (one funny and the other serious), which would have been a bit more intriguing. Instead, neither story reflected its other in any way, except that the central characters are two opposite kinds of girls named Melinda and are played by the same actress (Radha Mitchell). Mitchell is a dysfunctional, depressed, suicidal wreck of a neurotic in the tragic side of the movie, while her comical persona is more bouncy and fun to be around. Ms. Mitchell is actually quite good in conveying both parts.
The supporting players change between both stories ... in the tragedy version, the messed up Melinda with a shattered past crashes at the home of her friend Laurel (Chloe Sevigny) and her husband (Jonny Lee Miller). She causes a strain on their already troubled marriage, as Melinda herself seeks to find a reason to want to live; in the comical version, the more likable Melinda spends her time with a female director and her nebbish husband (Will Farrell), who just happens to fall in love with her. Farrell is basically filling in for Woody here, as he gets all the same nerdy lines and mannerisms you'd expect Allen to do himself, had he been young enough to take on the part. Sometimes the too-tall Farrell's Woody impersonation is effective and there are some occasionally witty lines, but one cannot help feeling it should have been Allen on the screen doing them. MELINDA AND MELINDA is fair enough, but it's still ultimately another familiar essay from Woody Allen on his studies of human relationships. **1/2 out of ****