Loved this one. Radha Mitchell was great. Though the "tragic" storyline wasn't that tragic.

8/10 (B+)

{Here's my original review from March 2005: }


Melinda and Melinda: Meta Woody

It is very interesting to see a mature film director like Woody Allen take the cover off the inner workings of his art so we can see the gears turning inside...

Allen has moved through comedy, through drama, through art films, and is now creating meta-art films - - art about the making of art. As always the dialogue is super clever and I enjoyed the dual storyline overlapping structure. The actors were solid - - I wonder if Will Ferrrel will portray Woody full-time from now on - - he did a great job. Overall, not up there with Allen's best work - - the whole enterprise seemed to get bogged down by the end, but still definitely worth seeing...

3 out of 5.



{To add, to my earlier comments: I remember having heard the premise, that I went in hoping to see the exact same story done as a comedy and a tragedy. I was disappointed to see how he fudged it - - because I believe Woody could have made another masterpiece here if he had gone all the way...}