''Melinda and Melinda'' is a 2004 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

written and directed by

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

. It premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. The film is set in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and stars

Radha Mitchell Radha Rani Amber Indigo Ananda Mitchell is an Australian actress. She started her career with various appearances on Australian television, including a regular role as Catherine O'Brien in the soap opera ''Neighbours'' (1996–97). Mitchell la ...

as the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

Melinda, in two storylines; one comic, one tragic. The film began a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in the United States on March 18, 2005.

Synopsis

The premise of the film is stated by a group of four writers conversing over dinner at the beginning of the film. The question arises: Is life naturally comic or tragic? One of the four proposes a simple story (a distraught woman knocks on a door and disrupts a dinner party) and the two prominent

playwrights A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

in the group begin telling their versions of this story, one being comic and one tragic.

Cast

as Melinda Robicheaux *

Chloë Sevigny Chloë Stevens Sevigny (, born November 18, 1974) is an American actress, model, filmmaker and fashion designer. Known for her work in independent films, often appearing in controversial or experimental features, Sevigny is the recipient of se ...

as Laurel *

Jonny Lee Miller Jonathan Lee Miller (born 15 November 1972) is a British film, television and theatre actor. He achieved early success for his portrayal of Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson in the dark comedy-drama film ''Trainspotting'' (1996) and as Dade Murphy in ...

as Lee *

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 200 ...

as Hobie *

Amanda Peet Amanda Peet (born January 11, 1972) is an American actress. She began her career with small parts on television, and made her feature film debut in ''Animal Room'' (1995). Her portrayal of Jill St. Claire in ''The Whole Nine Yards'' (2000) broug ...

as Susan *

Chiwetel Ejiofor Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor ( ; born 10 July 1977) is a British actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, an NAACP Image Award, and nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy A ...

as Ellis Moonsong *

Wallace Shawn Wallace Michael Shawn (born November 12, 1943) is an American actor, playwright, and essayist. His film roles include Wally Shawn (a fictionalized version of himself) in '' My Dinner with Andre'' (1981), Vizzini in ''The Princess Bride'' (1987), ...

as Sy *

Josh Brolin Joshua James Brolin (; born February 12, 1968) is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as ''The Goonies'' (1985), ''Mimic'' (1997), ''Hollow Man'' (2000), ''Grindhouse'' (2007), ''No Country for Old Men'' (2007), '' American Gangste ...

as Greg Earlinger *

Vinessa Shaw Vinessa Elizabeth Shaw (born July 19, 1976) is an American film actress and model. She began her career as a child actor, and had her breakout role in Disney's 1993 Halloween comedy-fantasy film '' Hocus Pocus''. Shaw also appeared in ''Ladybu ...

as Stacey Fox *

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott (The Office), Michael Scott in ''The Office (American TV series), The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the The Office (B ...

as Walt *

Arija Bareikis Arija Allison Bareikis is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Officer Chickie Brown in the TV crime drama '' Southland''. She is also known for the films '' Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo'' and ''The Purge''. Early life and educ ...

as Sally Oliver *

Matt Servitto Matthew Joseph Servitto (born April 7, 1965) is an American actor known for his role as Special Agent Dwight Harris on ''The Sopranos'' and Trask Bodine on ''All My Children'' (1989-1990), Deputy Brock Lotus on the Cinemax series ''Banshee'' and ...

as Jack Oliver *

Zak Orth Zak Orth (born October 15, 1970) is an American actor known for his roles in ''Wet Hot American Summer'', ''The Baxter'', ''Melinda and Melinda'', ''In & Out (film), In and Out'', ''Music and Lyrics'', and ''NYC 22''. He also starred in the NBC te ...

as Peter * Brooke Smith as Cassie *

Daniel Sunjata Daniel Sunjata Condon (born December 30, 1971) is an American actor who performs in film, television and theater. He is known for his role as Franco Rivera in the FX television series '' Rescue Me''. Early life and education Sunjata was born a ...

as Billy Wheeler *

Larry Pine Larry Pine (born March 3, 1945) is an American actor. A veteran of the Broadway stage, he began his career playing the role of Fop in the 1968 production of ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. He has since starred in film and television, with recurring roles ...

as Max *

Andy Borowitz Andy Borowitz (born January 4, 1958) is an American writer, comedian, satirist, and actor. Borowitz is a ''The New York Times''-bestselling author who won the first National Press Club award for humor. He is known for creating the NBC sitcom ''Th ...

as Doug

plays Melinda in both versions.

, and

star with her in the tragedy, while

and

star with her in the comedy.

has a small part as Ferrell's character's friend.

Production

said in ''Conversations with Woody Allen'' that he wanted to cast

Winona Ryder Winona Laura Horowitz (born October 29, 1971), professionally known as Winona Ryder, is an American actress. Originally playing quirky roles, she rose to prominence for her more diverse performances in various genres in the 1990s. She has recei ...

in the title role. He had to replace her with

because no one would insure Ryder due to her arrest for shoplifting – this would have made it impossible to obtain a film

completion bond {{Short description, Form of insurance used in filmmaking In filmmaking, a completion guarantee (sometimes referred to as a completion bond) is a form of insurance offered by a completion guarantor company (in return for a percentage fee based on th ...

. Allen stated he was sad because he had written the part for Ryder after working with her on ''

Celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

''. In the same interview, he also claimed to have intended Ferrell's part for

Robert Downey, Jr. Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor and producer. His career has been characterized by critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, before a resurgence of ...

, but, again, insurance got in the way due to Downey's history of arrests and drug abuse. The film also stars

(alluding to his dinner-philosophy argument in '' My Dinner with Andre'') as the comic playwright,

as the tragedian, and Brooke Smith as Cassie. All three had appeared in the 1994 film ''

Vanya on 42nd Street ''Vanya on 42nd Street'' is a 1994 American film directed by Louis Malle, written by Andre Gregory, and starring Wallace Shawn and Julianne Moore. The film is an intimate, interpretive performance of the 1899 play ''Uncle Vanya'' by Anton Chekhov ...

,'' directed by

Louis Malle Louis Marie Malle (; 30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both Cinema of France, French cinema and Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a fi ...

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

lists a 51% positive score, based on 144 reviews.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

reported the film had an average score of 54 out of 100, based on 40 reviews.

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

gave the film two stars, calling it "meandering,” with "echoes... of earlier, better Allen movies".

Box office

''Melinda and Melinda'' opened on March 18, 2005, in one New York City cinema, where it grossed $74,238 in its first three days, the 21st highest limited release opening in American history. In weekend two, it expanded to 95 theatres to gross $740,618, seeing its per screen average drop to $7,795. Overseas, it grossed an additional $16,259,545, bringing its worldwide total to $20,085,825.

Soundtrack

Accompanying the movie is its

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

, released on March 8, 2005 on

Milan Records Milan Records is a record label located in Los Angeles, California specializing in film scores and soundtrack albums. In addition, Milan boasts an extensive electronic catalog which features down-tempo, chillout, and eclectic electronic releases ...

. It mostly features a selection of

swing music Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands ...

and

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

tracks, which is typical for Allen's films.

Track listing

References

External links

* * * * *
Woody Allen interview for Melinda And Melinda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melinda And Melinda 2004 films 2004 comedy-drama films Films directed by Woody Allen Films set in Manhattan Films with screenplays by Woody Allen Films produced by Letty Aronson Fox Searchlight Pictures films Films shot in New York City 2004 comedy films 2004 drama films 2000s English-language films American comedy-drama films