Melinda and Melinda
By Zachary Keith Parker
Woody Allen’s films are often hit or miss. You can usually expect some hilarious moments and strong acting, but still worry about whether or not the whole story will work well or be laden down with Allen’s pessimism. Melinda and Melinda makes us feel like we’re only seeing half of the big picture, even though it feels like we’ve seen this individual one before.
The film opens with two filmmakers arguing philosophically over the “essence of life” in a café: is it tragic? Is it comic? They both suggest how they would make a movie based on the premise of one woman, Melinda, dropping in unexpectedly on some friends at dinner. Thus the film follows the two stories develop, providing a comparison between the two genres or perspectives.
In the tragic version, Laurel (Chloe Sevigny) and young actor Lee (Johnny Lee Miller) entertain a movie producer for dinner when Laurel’s old friend, Melinda (Radha Mitchell) abruptly interrupts. Melinda is recovering from her suicidal depression after an affair. The affair resulted in the destruction of her unhappy marriage and deprivation of her beloved children.
Laurel and her reluctant husband, Lee, take care of Melinda, trying to help her recover some semblance of a life. Once she meets Ellis (Chiwetel Ejiofor), it seems she has found love and the opportunity for a new life. However, adultery and betrayal do not seem to have lost their grip on Melinda’s life.
In the comic version, filmmaker Susan (Amanda Peet) and her actor husband, Hobie (Will Ferrell) serve dinner to a potentially interested producer for Susan’s film when their apartment neighbor, Melinda (also Radha Mitchell), unexpectedly drops in.
Though struggling, Melinda has drawn the interest and perhaps love of Hobie, who realizes his marriage to Susan, is inevitably declining. With the formula of a romantic comedy, Melinda and Hobie must face adultery and betrayal, though in a much lighter context.
As Hobie, Will Ferrell will not disappoint his fans, as he takes on a more quietly hilarious role. Radha Mitchell plays both versions of Melinda well, but she does not command our sympathy as much as the supporting cast. She is more of a tool of the two filmmakers, used to reveal and build the essence of the other characters. Chiwetel Ejiofor as Ellis is wonderfully charming, but Chloe Sevigny as Laurel gives the most movingly nuanced performance of the film.
Perhaps the most obvious blunder about Allen’s newest work is its unoriginality because we have quite nearly seen this movie before. In story, characters, and events, Melinda and Melinda is Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors rehashed.
It almost seems like this was a deliberate decision by Woody Allen to create a humanistic twin of Crimes and Misdemeanors without any hint of its religious baggage. Regardless, it would seem Woody Allen is himself a “Melinda” trying to create some semblance of a life without God.
While the characters seem to create a dichotomy between tragedy and comedy, Allen’s film itself is ultimately both, a tragicomedy typical of Woody Allen. Moreover, the two stories also share a common theme or message: “life can be a tragedy or a comedy it just depends on how you look at it. [And decide which one because] life is short.” Sadly, this conclusion offers no hope or happiness, which contradicts the film’s grounds for humor.
It is our Christian hope, which establishes any rightful grounds for us to laugh when Will Ferrell burns his dinner or when he tells Melinda his wife is out “shopping and lunching.” Shopping and lunching may indeed be the better time investment since with Melinda and Melinda, Allen misses a great opportunity to present any long-lasting entertainment or values.
