As a character, Melinda is a troubled person who steps into the story(ies) at inconvenient times, starting a series of people falling for her and each other, throwing a little infidelity into the mix, to reveal a final message of "comedy or tragedy, if either one IS more like real life, than it's all good."

I personally thought this was one of Woody Allen's weakest projects as writer and director. I have always enjoyed his style of writing both on screen and on stage, particularly with his comedies. However, comedy only makes up half of "Melinda and Melinda," the rest of the time, I was fighting to stay awake.

I appreciated Allen's concept on this picture, but--to use an obscure analogy--the ingredients just didn't make pudding, just some power floating in milk.

I DID enjoy how Allen cast notable dramatic actors, like Chloe Sevigny (Boys Don't Cry), to play out the tragic perspective of the story, while notable comedic actors, like Will Ferrell (Anchorman), Amanda Peet (Saving Silverman) and Steve Carrell (Bruce Almighty), played out the comedic perspective. Each perspective included the "same" characters, but different actors and archs. The only character to be played by the same actor in both perspectives was Melinda, played by Radha Mitchell (Finding Neverland). This I also enjoyed highly.

However, the dramatic side of the story just couldn't keep me interested in the picture overall. The comedic side was absolutely funny, with a HUGE credit to Will Ferrell. Ferrell did appear to be doing a Woody Allen impersonation towards the end of the picture, but overall, I appreciated his timing and subtlety.

Overall, the picture resembled a UCLA senior exit project, rather than a Woody Allen picture. If you enjoy Allen's work religiously, you may like this one a lot. If you like him as much as I do, which is a lot, but not entirely, than "Melinda and Melinda" will probably be a disappointment to you too.

Benn - Where's the Humanity?

I won't speak much about this movie because I didn't like this movie too much. I thought Will Ferrell was great. He kept the comedy part of the movie going with his intensity and raised the level of the rest of the cast. The comedic Melinda was very funny and quite enjoyable to watch, which amazes me because the same actress played both the comedic and dramatic Melinda's and I could not stand her as the dramatic character. It was painful to watch, but I am guessing it was due to the writing and not the acting because she was wonderful as the comedic Melinda.

I like the idea of the movie, two different angles of the same story. But Allen missed his target with the tragedy. Not only did I not find the dramatic story interesting, it was quite boring and I did not want to watch any of it. The idea was good but the writing was bad.

I can't recommend this movie unless you like Woody Allen movies, Will Ferrell's work cannot make up for the boring dramatic story on the other end.