Melinda and Melinda

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Melinda and Melinda
Directed by Woody Allen
Produced by Letty Aronson
Written by Woody Allen
Starring Radha Mitchell
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Will Ferrell
Jonny Lee Miller
Amanda Peet
Chloë Sevigny
Wallace Shawn
Brooke Smith
Larry Pine
Steve Carell
Daniel Sunjata
Music by Johann Sebastian Bach
Johannes Brahms
Igor Stravinsky
Béla Bartók
Cinematography Vilmos Zsigmond
Editing by Alisa Lepselter
Distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release date(s) March 18, 2005
Running time 100 minutes
Language English
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Melinda and Melinda is a 2005 film written and directed by Woody Allen. It was premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. The film is set in Allen's favorite location, Manhattan, and stars Radha Mitchell as the protagonist Melinda, in two story lines, one comic, one tragic.

Contents

[edit] Plot details

The premise of the film is that a group of four writers are conversing over dinner. 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 in the group begin telling their versions of this story, one being comic and one tragic.

[edit] Cast details

Woody Allen said in Conversations with Woody Allen that he wanted to cast Winona Ryder as the title role, but he had to replace her with Radha Mitchell because no agency would insure her due to her famous arrest. Allen stated he was sad because he had written the part for Ryder after he worked with her on Celebrity.

Although Radha Mitchell plays Melinda in both versions, no one else is in both. Chloë Sevigny, Jonny Lee Miller, and Chiwetel Ejiofor star with her in the tragedy, while Will Ferrell and Amanda Peet star with her in the comedy.

The film also stars Wallace Shawn as the comic playwright and Larry Pine as the tragedian, and Brooke Smith as Cassie; All three appeared in Vanya on 42nd Street (1994, directed by Louis Malle). Steve Carell has a small part as Ferrell's friend in the comedy.

[edit] Critical reception

The film received mostly mixed reviews from critics, though Mitchell's dual performance was universally praised. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film received 51% positive reviews, based on 144 reviews.[1] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 54 out of 100, based on 40 reviews.[2]

[edit] Box Office

Melinda and Melinda opened on March 18, 2005 in one New York City cinema, where it grossed a poor $74,238 in its first three days. In weekend two, it expanded to 95 theatres to gross $740,618, seeing its per screen average nosedive to $7,795.

Overseas, it grossed an additional $16,259,545, bringing its worldwide total to $20,085,825. Woody Allen's subsequent productions have been financed and filmed in Europe.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Melinda and Melinda - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
  2. ^ Melinda and Melinda (2005): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Woody Allen
1960s
1970s
1980s
Stardust Memories (1980) · A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) · Zelig (1983) · Broadway Danny Rose (1984) · The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) · Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) · Radio Days (1987) · September (1987) · Another Woman (1988) · New York Stories (1989) · Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
1990s
Alice (1990) · Shadows and Fog (1992) · Husbands and Wives (1992) · Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) · Bullets Over Broadway (1994) · Don't Drink the Water (1994) · Mighty Aphrodite (1995) · Everyone Says I Love You (1996) · Deconstructing Harry (1997) · Celebrity (1998) · Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
2000s
Small Time Crooks (2000) · The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) · Hollywood Ending (2002) · Anything Else (2003) · Melinda and Melinda (2005) · Match Point (2005) · Scoop (2006) · Cassandra's Dream (2007) · Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)