Film review of Melinda and Melinda

(More Woody Allen:  This film review of “Melinda and Melinda” originally appeared in the Australian Jewish News on 27 May 2005.)

Written and directed by Woody Allen

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Will Ferrell, Jonny Lee Miller, Radha Mitchell, Amanda Peet, Chloe Sevigny and Wallace Shawn

Although not quite a full return to form, traditional fans of Woody Allen will find themselves reasonably satisfied with his “Melinda and Melinda”, certainly his best film in seven or more years.  While many elements do not quite work, audiences seeking a more cerebral film-going experience are not likely to be disappointed.

The setting – as so much of the Woody Allen oeuvre – is an intellectual, Jewish, sophisticated theatre film and artistic crowd in Manhattan, with a few rich entrepreneurs (usually doctors) thrown in for variety.  The storyline is not particularly profound, but gives two interesting settings for some of the best ensemble acting in some time.

The film opens in a New York eatery, where four (obviously very intellectual) diners are discussing the nature of tragedy and comedy.  Remember the line spoken by Alan Alda’s character in “Crimes and Misdemeanors” that “comedy is tragedy plus time”.  It’s that sort of discussion – rich, intellectual, urbane and vaguely cynical.  In this case, the writer of tragedy Max (Larry Pine) and the writer of comedy Sy (Wallace Shawn, as impish as ever and a playwright of some note in real life), both spin the same story about a young woman named Melinda, except one is a tragedy and the other a comedy.

Thus follows two totally different but yet parallel stories, with the only connection being one character in common – Melinda, played astonishing well in both by Australian actress Radha Mitchell.  (Mitchell is beautiful, versatile, has a great range, and is developing an extraordinary emotional pitch.)  In each version, Melinda arrives unannounced at a New York City dinner party to an apartment where the husband is an aspiring actor and the wife significantly more accomplished professionally.  Not surprisingly, in both instances, relationships begin to unravel and the nature of friendship is tested.  In the tragic version, Melinda has a desperately dark past history and is arriving to the home of old university friends who have decidedly mixed feelings about seeing her again; in the comic version, she is subletting a flat in the same building and is on the verge of committing suicide.

“Melinda and Melinda” is, if anything, over-plotted, but never less than engaging.  Unlike some dual character films, the connections between the two Melindas are not quite strong enough to sustain continued relevance.  Certainly their personalities are very different, so the point of parallel stories gets lost a bit.  There are also some interesting casting choices.  Experienced comic Will Ferrell (“Elf”, “Anchorman”) plays the comic aspiring actor in a role that sounds just like what we once thought of as “the Woody Allen character”, with all of the neuroses and self-deprecating lines.  It’s an interesting take, but never quite worked for me to be hearing the ghost of Woody in a very different sort of body.   The other interesting casting choice is British-born black actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (“Amistad”) as Ellis, the soulful piano player in the “tragic” story; this is the first complete black character I can recall Woody Allen putting on screen, and it works.  Other cast members include British actor Jonny Lee Miller (“Trainspotting”), Amanda Peet (“Something’s Gotta Give”) and Chloe Sevigny (“Boys Don’t Cry”).

Allen revisits many of his favourite themes (romance, jealousy, identity, you name it), but it’s only when he starts dealing with moral issues that “Melinda and Melinda” starts to take on a deeper meaning, when tragedy and comedy begin to merge in the uncomfortable style of his “Crimes and Misdemeanors”.  The film does not quite get there, but it’s a good – and very watchable – attempt.