Melinda
and Melinda (***)
review by Jon
Waterman
A few friends get together at a restaurant and discuss the
nature of life and how it translates into art. Since a couple
of them are writers, one tragic, the other comedic, they verbally
spar. To sort of help settle the question of the night of which
genre more accurately portrays reality, one of their dinner
companions offers up a story. He tells them of Melinda, a struggling
young woman, and her plights and misadventures when dealing
with people she doesn’t know so well. Each storyteller
takes turns interpreting and riffing off the tale, twisting
it to better suit their means.
Writer/director Woody Allen’s latest effort finds himself
skating on already very thin ice. After such recent critical
and box office flops as “Curse of the Jade Scorpion,” “Hollywood
Ending” and “Anything Else” amongst others,
Allen’s stock has fallen considerably. Add to that a
film that has him taking on dramatic material mixed in with
comedy and that just seems to be a sure-fire recipe for disaster.
But you know what? Maybe you shouldn’t underestimate
Mr. Allen so much.
Walking the tight rope line between tragedy and comedy has
to be one of, if not THE most ambitious moves one can attempt,
as well as one of the most fatal. The most prominent example
I can think of for a movie like this falling off and missing
the net is “Patch Adams.” The duality just didn’t
work. However in “Melinda”², the dichotomy
somehow does. For starters, the intentions are spelled out
for us right away, so we know to expect the funny and the not.
Also, the casts and storylines are separated, so we don’t
have to deal with the same characters flicking emotions on
and off like a light switch. And even though Melinda is in
both stories, she is essentially two separated characters,
so it’s not hard to distance yourself from one while
watching the other.
As for the audience, it’s not too hard to bounce back
and forth. It’s pretty simple to be horrified during
the tragic moments, blink, and then laugh along with the funny
parts. Unfortunately, it’s just not as simple as that.
Even though the intentions are given to us from the beginning,
you still sort of expect them to mix. I was waiting to laugh
during the tragic parts and I was expecting bad things to happen
during the comic scenes. It never happened. I can’t say
that was disappointing, but I can say that is where the separation
and the intercutting misses the mark.
The actors are great with what they’re given. Radha
Mitchell (“Pitch Black”) does a great job handling
both Melindas. Like I said, you truly feel like you’re
watching two completely different people. If anyone is weak
in the cast, it would have to be the always overrated Amanda
Peet. Also, Will Ferrell who plays Peet’s husband in
the comedy half takes on too much of a Woody Allen persona
(a recurring problem in Allen’s films), which hurts his
character and his acting.
The movie provides some pretty good one-liners, but not enough
to really keep you going. The tragedy is somewhat predictable,
which hedges some of the effect, although that could have been
intentional. Intertwining the two genres works a lot better
than you’ll usually find, but ultimately proves that
it’s still too difficult for even some of the masters
of cinema. This is typical Allen, and fans might appreciate
the improvement, but it hardly compares to the great subtle,
cerebral films from his past.
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