Melinda
and Melinda is the latest effort from Mr. Neurotic himself, Woody Allen. Sadly,
the Woodman isn’t quite the force he used to be. This isn’t to say that
his recent efforts have been awful. I maintain that a mediocre film from Allen
is still better than, say - a strong effort from Michael Bay.
Melinda
and Melinda gets a major boost from a lively and creative narrative. The film
opens with a dinner gathering in which two playwrights argue (playfully) over
which is a more relevant genre - comedy or tragedy? Another dinner guest pitches
a scenario, and the two intellectual writers chime in with their interpretations
of the same story - one funny and one sad. Rather than telling both stories from
beginning to end, Allen opts to inter-cut the two - making for a most interesting
flow. Both tales feature a terrific turn by a very capable Radha Mitchell - who
plays Melinda, a troubled young woman whose sudden and unannounced appearance
at a dinner party sets into motion a chain reaction of romantic events that involve
a handful of people from her past.
Melinda
and Melinda is a story about relationships and dysfunction, two things the gifted
Allen has made a science of. Not surprisingly, we are expected to feel sympathy
toward characters who cheat on their loved ones. While I didn’t always feel
sympathetic, at the very least, the justifications for some of these characters’
actions are handled in a very adult manner, and it helps that the people in Allen’s
universe are three dimensional.
Mitchell
is quickly making a name for herself in the business with solid work in movies
like Finding Neverland. Melinda and Melinda is certainly a breakthrough of sorts
in that she really carries the film. The differences between sad Melinda and lighthearted
Melinda are subtle, but then that’s the beauty of her nuanced work in this
picture. She’s never over the top. The supporting players are terrific, most
notably Chloe Sevigny as a passionate woman coming to terms with a failed relationship,
and a charming Chiwetel Ejiofor (so good in the little seen Dirty Pretty Things)
as an understanding man who finds himself caught up in an unexpected love triangle.
Will Ferrell offers some laughs as a goofy, out of work actor who can’t help
but develop a crush on Melinda.
I
wouldn’t rank this among Allen’s best efforts. The dialogue and characterizations
aren’t nearly as interesting as the plot structure. And let’s face it,
if Allen had made Melinda and Melinda as two different films - one funny and one
sad - they most likely would be proclaimed labored, underdeveloped and somewhat
pretentious. Thankfully, he had the good sense to lend a creative narrative to
the proceedings making the familiar more tolerable than it might have been otherwise.
Simply
put, this is a movie with great moments, but it isn’t necessarily a great
movie. It never entirely came together for me, and I had reservations with the
way some of the female characters in this picture were portrayed. No doubt, Allen
was drawing inspiration from some of the women in his own life, but in the end,
Melinda and Melinda lacks the consistent humor and insight of Annie Hall, the
personal traits of the intimate Deconstructing Harry and the sheer dramatic power
of, what I believe to be Woody Allen’s very best film, Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Again,
Melinda and Melinda does have strong moments and a terrific lead in the form of
Radha Mitchell, but this film wasn’t quite as involving as I’d hoped
it would be. As for which is more important - comedy or tragedy, the answer is
clearly both. It isn’t humanly possible to have one without the other as
Woody knows all too well.
