Melinda and Melinda (2004)

Director:

Woody Allen

Writer (WGA):

Woody Allen (written by)

Release Date:

29 October 2004 (Spain)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

One love story. Two versions. Seriously funny.

Plot:

Two alternating stories about Melinda's (Mitchell) attempts to straighten out her life.

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Party | Extramarital Affair | Alcoholism | Actress Playing Multiple Roles

Cast

Chiwetel Ejiofor	...	Ellis Moonsong
Will Ferrell	...	Hobie
Jonny Lee Miller	...	Lee
Radha Mitchell	...	Melinda Robicheaux
Amanda Peet	...	Susan
Chloë Sevigny	...	Laurel
Wallace Shawn	...	Sy
David Aaron Baker	...	Steve Walsh
Arija Bareikis	...	Sally Oliver
Josh Brolin	...	Greg Earlinger
Steve Carell	...	Walt
Stephanie Roth Haberle	...	Louise
Shalom Harlow	...	Joan
Geoffrey Nauffts	...	Bud Silverglide
Zak Orth	...	Peter

Also Known As:

Melinda & Melinda (USA) (alternative spelling)
Untitled Woody Allen Fall Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for adult situations involving sexuality, and some substance material.

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Mono)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Hungary:14 | Norway:A | Canada:PG (Ontario) | South Korea:15 | USA:TV-MA (TV rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:14A | Canada:G (Quebec) | Czech Republic:12 | Finland:K-7 | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:12A | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 (certificate #40800) | Germany:o.Al.

Filming Locations:

Dune Road, The Hamptons, Long Island, New York, USA

Company:

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Trivia:

During filming, Radha Mitchell was the only actor who had the entire script. The other actors just had their storyline.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In one of the beginning scenes for the "drama" version of Melinda's tale the battery pack for her microphone creates a very noticeable bulge in the lower back of her shirt. Whenever she stands up from leaning on the kitchen table the bulge turns into the shape of a square.

Quotes:

Walt Wagner: Maybe you should go back to your shrink... Discuss it.
Hobie: He just recommended Prozac. I think he has stock in the company, honestly.

Movie Connections:

References "The Simpsons" (1989)

Soundtrack:

Comin' At Ya

I predict you won't be miserable.

Manhattan still drives Woody Allen crazy: Urbanites are prey to ambition and lust, pride and diffidence and even sound like Woody with their halting sentences, paranoid affectations, and occasionally witty lines tossed off like the dregs of their grande lattes. It's a petting zoo of needy moderns who most of all want to find love, which eludes them right up to the last cliffhanging moment.

Alvy Singer and Annie Hall are the best known of Allen's angst-ridden city dwellers, but the new Woodies are every bit as screwed up if not more knowing about the quagmires their marriages and professions have become. The setup is twin parallel stories starting from the same incident reflecting separately the tragic and the comic possibilities.

It all begins with a discussion at a restaurant table among four sophisticates about life being either tragic or comic. Sy (Wallace Shawn), a comedy writer, argues that people need laughter to overcome life's essential pain (difficult to separate Shawn from the memory of his discussion in "My Dinner with Andre"). Max (Larry Pine) says that life is absurd and therefore tragic. So each tells the same story differently about an uninvited guest, one story a romantic comedy, the other a tragic tale of a desperate loner.

Will Farrell as a neurotic husband does the best fax Allen yet in his films. His lines are vintage Woody, tossed-off self-deprecation with a worldly wise guy subtext. One of the best lines comes from Susan (Amanda Peet), a director, who discloses the title of her newest film, "The Castration Sonata," putting "male sexuality in perspective." The Woodman returns in fine form to take on Aristotle and try to fulfill his own hope over a quarter century ago when he said, "If my film makes one more person miserable, I'll feel I've done my job." His tragedy has such ample comedy, I predict you won't be miserable.