Don't let Woody Allen's name confuse you into thinking that Melinda and Melinda will be outrageously witty or even funny. The premise is simple and effective, the story of Melinda is told in two different ways, one light hearted, the other heavy hearted. The latter representation lacks drama and although the actors involved are of the highest caliber, it is less than gripping. The 'funny' story is much more entertaining with much of the laughs coming from Will Ferrel doing his besy Woody Allen impression. It only amounts to being an amicable romantic comedy at the best of times. The films as a whole is watachable, if only once, and the premise itself almost inspores the viewer to consider how they look at the world. Very average comedy drama, Woody Allen is not at his best.
I'm afraid I didn't really fall for this one, finding all the shenanigans of a collection of fairly young and spoilt New Yorkites a bit difficult to work out. But my wife really liked it. 5 stars from her!
After a group of friends in a restaurant are told a tale from life, a pair of writers among them each reinterpret this narrative in the styles of a comedy and a tragedy. Woody then cuts the stories together until they are difficult to separate, which is probably the point of the film.
The two plots have different casts apart from Radha Mitchell who plays both Melindas. She has left her husband, suffered a mental collapse and turned up unannounced to friends in New York, disturbing in turn the orbit of their comfortable lives in two different ways.
It was written for Winona Ryder, but she couldn't be insured following her recent shoplifting conviction.
It's a bit of technical exercise, which is interesting and as ever for an Allen film it is well cast and decently written. But it is short of the imaginative inspiration and wit that Woody usually imparts so reliably. It's by no means a waste of time, and it has its advocates, but I place it as the least of Woody's films since Everyone Says I Love You.