Four writers converse over dinner about the value of comedy and tragedy. The question arises: Is life naturally comic or tragic? One of the four proposes a real story he heard somewhere else: a distraught woman named Melinda disrupts a dinner party held by a couple, and a series of events involving affairs and a suicide attempt ensues. The two prominent playwrights in the group begin telling their versions of this story, one being comic and one tragic.
In the tragic story, Melinda, a divorced friend of the couple (consisting of failed actor Lee and wealthy socialite Laurel), ends up staying at their house. During the course of the story, she loses the custody of her children due to her affair and history of alcoholism and drug abuse. Believing Melinda is depressed due to the loss of her family, Laurel decides to help her look for a boyfriend. At a party, the two women end up falling for the same man, a pianist and composer named Ellis Moonsong. Melinda starts dating Ellis, who also starts an affair with Laurel. During a date, Melinda reveals to Ellis that her boyfriend's death was not accidental, as everyone believes. She actually killed him after discovering that he had been cheating on her. One evening, Laurel finds out Lee is having an affair with an acting student of his. Defending himself, Lee mentions he knows Laurel is cheating on him with Ellis, and Melinda overhears this. After Laurel and Ellis confirm this to her, a distressed Melinda attempts to jump off a building. However, Ellis manages to save her.
In the comedic story, Melinda is a neighbor of the couple (consisting of failed actor Hobie and aspiring filmmaker Susan). Hobie is smitten by Melinda and develops a friendship with her. Despite his relationship with Susan being fraught, Hobie feels guilty about even considering an affair. While at a store, he finds an old lamp and rubs it while wishing for a way to have a romantic relationship with Melinda without hurting Susan. When Hobie returns home, he finds Susan having sex with one of the possible candidates to produce her next film. Delighted, Hobie breaks up with Susan and asks Melinda out. However, before he can confess his feelings for her, Hobie discovers Melinda started a relationship with a pianist she met on the street. Melinda and her new boyfriend decide to help a secretly jealous Hobie find a girlfriend. They set her up with a Playboy model, and the four go on a date on Halloween that involves seeing a movie and attending a party. There, the two strangers realize they both feel lonely and decide to go to Hobie's apartment to have sex. Seeing them leave the party together, a hurt Melinda realizes she has feelings for Hobie. Back at his place, before they can have sex, the model realizes she is still sad about her previous break-up. She tries to throw herself off the building before Hobie stops her. After she is gone, Hobie finds Melinda spying on him, and they both confess their feelings for each other.
Without reaching a true conclusion on the value of tragedy and comedy, the writers realize that it is important to appreciate the tragic and comedic moments in life as one never knows when it will end.
Mitchell plays Melinda in both versions. Sevigny, Miller, and Ejiofor star with her in the tragedy, while Ferrell and Peet star with her in the comedy. Carell has a small part as Ferrell's character's friend.
Production
Woody Allen said in Conversations with Woody Allen that he wanted to cast Winona Ryder in the title role. He had to replace her with Radha Mitchell because no one would insure Ryder due to her arrest for shoplifting; this would have made it impossible to obtain a film completion bond. Allen stated he was sad because he had written the part for Ryder after working with her on Celebrity (1998). In the same interview, he also claimed to have intended Ferrell's part for Robert Downey Jr., but, again, insurance got in the way due to Downey's history of arrests and drug abuse.[1]
Melinda and Melinda grossed $3.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $16.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $20.1 million.[2] The film opened on March 18, 2005, in one New York City cinema, where it grossed $74,238 in its first three days. On its second weekend, it expanded to 95 theaters to gross $740,619, seeing its per-screen average drop to $7,795.[3]
Critical response
Melinda and Melinda received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 51% based on 157 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Woody Allen's uneven Melinda and Melinda fails to find neither comedy nor pathos in what seems like a rehash of his previous themes."[4]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[5]Leonard Maltin gave the film two stars, calling it "meandering", with "echoes ... of earlier, better Allen movies".[6]
