"Are those tears of sorrow or tears of joy?" "Well, aren't those the same tears?""Living is messy""I want to want to live."Even in a Woody Allen film, I don't at all care for, there is still a brilliant script at work leaving me with enough quotable lines to be happy with the outing. Melinda and Melinda, the 2004 release written and directed by Woody Allen explored the life of a woman named Melinda whose life was equally as tragic as it was comedic. Leave it to Woody Allen, never one to adhere to a singular narrative structure, to simply tell a story as both a comedy and tragedy. We see Melinda's life, played by Radha Mitchell, as two separate stories intertwined with both tragic and comedic elements. The concept was a novel one, but poor execution hampered the final product. The performances were fine, and the script was superb, but everything else in Melinda and Melinda seemed uninspired. I applaud the director for constantly testing the limits of cinema; in Melinda and Melinda, however, the test simply didn't pay off.

Finally got to see this gem. As a film, I found it very interesting to watch for technical and directing reasons. I counted one take that was a minute and a-half long of walking through down a street in the city. I've always admired the way Woody Allen can use these long takes to such great advantage. And I admire the actors for managing to pull them off. As I slowly get through the entire Woody Allen library, one by one, I found this film to be a little too Woody Allen a times. Again, someone is going to be introduced to a dentist or a doctor named 'Sy Rubenstein," 'Sol Eplestein' or Juda, or Noah... The whole New York Jewish thing is so predictable in his films. Also, again the dialogue which is just not how people speak - Not even in New York. Will Ferrel's character was like listening to Woody Allen in Annie Hall, except the lines were delivered by someone else. Some of the gags were very good though. Over all I thought the performance were well done, all around. Thought everyone was well suited for the character and they all did a great job. Glad to have it in my Woody Allen collection.

An interesting experiment: telling the same story, intercut, in both comic and serious versions. Lots of striking moments, and some good acting (although Will Ferrell - as much as I'm a fan - trying to be 'serious' didn't really work for me). Also, the bookend device setting up the idea (two writers talking at a restaurant about the differences between comedy and tragedy) is clunky and a little on the nose. Still, a worthwhile attempt to look at how we tell stories, and by extension how we look at life. Allen's later films may not quite be at the level of his early work, but you gotta admire a filmmaker still trying to look at the big questions 40 years into his career.

Read more at http://blog.ParcEntertainment.comFollow me on Twitter - http://www.Twitter.com/ParcHDVideoHow one goes through life depends entirely on his or her perspective. One individual might see the tragedy inherent in a specific event, and yet someone else might perceive the same event to be a positive. Is the event itself tragic or comic, or does it depend solely upon your point of view?This philosophical merry-go-round is the foundation for Woody Allen's 2004 film, Melinda and Melinda. The film opens at a restaurant where four friends are in the middle of a conversation about life and relationships. Two of the friends are playwrights. One friend says that life is inherently tragic, but the other claims that life is inherently comic. A third friend sets the plot in motion when he asks the two playwrights to listen to a story and then comment on whether the tale is best viewed as a tragedy or comedy.From that point, the film follows two parallel stories, centering on Melinda, a young woman trying to get her life back together after a series of bad relationships and self-destructive behavior. One story follows a dramatic interpretation, and one follows the conventions of a romantic comedy.The premise of following parallel stories is engaging, although clichéd and formulaic. This movie would not seem quite so original had it been produced as a stand-alone tragedy or comedy. But because both story arcs are shown side by side, the film is much more interesting. I think most people enjoy contemplating how life's course can be set in one direction or another by events outside their control. It's fun to imagine what if? scenarios, thinking how things could have been different, if only…The dialogue in the film is a number of things - snappy, clever, poetic, and philosophical. Allen allows his characters to speak what many of us only think. The danger of doing so, however, is that a lot of the dialogue is too on-the-nose and expository. It doesn't ring true for real life. Characters (Melinda especially) engage in reflective and introspective monologues that are often tedious. At times it feels more like a stage play than a film, but perhaps that's the intent, considering that we are seeing this story through the eyes of two playwrights.Of the two "Melinda" stories, the light-hearted, comedic tale is much more interesting, due to the talents of the actors on screen. Will Ferrell plays Hobie, a struggling actor married to an up-and-coming director played by Amanda Peet.Ferrell's Hobie is charming and innocent, and he falls for Melinda (played by Radha Mitchell) when he realizes his marriage is going nowhere. Peet is equally likable as the ambitious workaholic filmmaker, striving to lock in the extra money to get her first feature into production. The dynamic between Ferrell and Mitchell is fun to watch, and the dialogue between the two rings truer than the dramatic counterpart of the film.The weaker of the two stories is the dramatic interpretation. Here, the characters are far less interesting, the dialogue far too stilted, and the acting too melodramatic. Aside from Mitchell's performance, the ensemble around her was flat, stiff, and too over-the-top. Mitchell's portrayal as the emotionally disturbed and suicidal Melinda really carried this portion of the film.Overall, Melinda and Melinda explores some very human themes in very conventional ways, but presents them in a unique way.