Woody Allen/USA/2004; R4
Fox (RS), NZ$29.95 | Reviewed by Alexander Bisley

WOE betide Woody Allen if he dare repeat himself: Reviewers gleefully line-up to critically gangbang him. What do fellow greats like John Ford, Yasujiro Ozu and Alfred Hitchcock have in common? They repeated themselves; and this repetition is much celebrated. I sometimes wonder about film marketing, and Melinda and Melinda's DVD cover has a absolute doozy, "Life can be a comedy or a tradegy" (sic) it proclaims. It's trivial, but it may be indicative of more seriousness sloppiness.

Melinda and Melinda is an engaging, amusing look at relationships. Allen may retread some familiar turf, but crafts fresh, inventive ideas too. It’s not as hilarious (or knowing and touching) as Annie Hall – but how many films are? Orson Welles grew to hate Citizen Kane, because with every subsequent film he made critics would whinge about how it didn’t live up to his debut masterpiece. You imagine Allen would understand.
 
"I'm an art historian... at least that's what I majored in at Brandeis." Allen smartly, stylishly interweaves two stories about a woman called Melinda (Radha Mitchell) articulated by two playwrights in a fancy restaurant. Melinda turns up unannounced at Manhattan parties, seriously unsettling the lives of the cognoscenti there. "Melinda had a reputation for being postmodern in bed," she gets involved in precarious romances.

 
One version, where Mitchell’s a Cameron Diaz-style cute ingenue, is a comedy, involving an affair with her neighbour Hobie (Will Ferrell). Hobie's relationship with Susan is hitting the rocks: "What? What's going on? We used to make love all the time and now, there's always an excuse." "I told you, I'm going through an emotionally difficult time creatively." "You feel like we don't communicate anymore?" "Of course we communicate. How can we not talk about it anymore?"

The other, featuring Melinda as a strung-out, passive aggressive Jennifer Jason Leigh drama queen, is a tragedy, involving a relationship with black pianist Ellis Moonsong (Chiwetel Ejiofor). (It's pleasing to see Allen develop a black character with some sophistication.) Allen, in the venerable tragicomic tradition, looks both ways, deftly riffing on the similarities and crossovers, not to mention constructions, of the two genres. "Hurry up. I’m running out of obsequious banter" features at both initial parties.
 
It’s a very appealing ensemble cast, spearheaded by Mitchell. Hobie, a struggling actor, shows comic flair and depth that has been broadened and limited in Ferrell’s more commercial projects such as Anchorman. Unlike Celebrity's Kenneth Branagh, Ferrell suits the endearing nebbish Allen perfected. Hilariously, Hobie hooks up with Stacey for some "affirmative action" in the bedroom, "She gorgeous. Hard to believe a Republican could be that sexual... I’m not voting against prayers in schools again." Now that's an A-man's amen.