Melinda and Melinda (Throwback Review)

The 2000's was a cruel decade for Allen with his only standouts being Match Point and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. His worst film of the decade was Anything Else, which tried to be Annie Hall for this generation and failed miserably. Melinda and Melinda had potential and there were some good moments, but there are times where the story just falls flat.

The Good: The film's premise is about some writers gathering in a coffee place. They argue whether life is a comedic or tragic. This sounds like an interesting premise and for the most part it is. The comedic and tragic stories revolve around one character named Melinda (Radha Mitchel). I have to say that her performance is very good and she handles both sides well. Allen wrote a complex character and Mitchel lived up to the performance.

The Bad: The comedic side of the movie fails big time. I think I chuckled a few time and that's it. it's disappointing since you had Will ferrell and Steve Carrell in that segement. Of course Carrell had hardly any screen time at all. Will Ferrel could just not play the famous neurotic woody allen character.

So despite a strong performance by radha Mitchel, Melinda and Melinda fails short of its interesting premise. It's a very uneven film and I can only recommend this as a rental for Woody Allen fans. Plus just like with all of Woody Allen's films wedon't get any special features. There isn't even a trailer for this one. Now that is just messed up. I'd give this a 2.5 out of 5.