Review of Melinda and Melinda (2004) by Nicholas C — 27 Mar 2005

A movie more interesting in concept than in execution. The basic story, a troubled woman unexpectedly dropping in on friends to stay during a time of tumult, is told from both comedic and dramatic angles by two writers over dinner with some friends.

The characters and actors are different for both storylines, except for the titular Melinda. While the characters do exhibit an agreeable bourgeois charm, the plot machinations underneath the veneer were unrealistic.

The characters' actions, while purported as spontaneous and impulsive, were easily forseeable. While humor could be found in the comedic storyline, much felt wasted with either poor timing, or poor line delivery from Will Ferrell, predictably the main source of comedy.

Both storylines weren't given ample time to fill in the backstory of the characters in order to generate the empathy that it could have, and the dramatic storyline's ultimately condescending attitude towards Melinda negated any pathos it tried to invoke.

Despite these failures, Radha Mitchell does shine as the titular character, bleeding comedy into the dramatic and vice versa. This comingling of comedy and drama, while definitely worth undertaking, loses due to the mishandled execution.