Melinda and Melinda 

Melinda and Melinda opens with two successful playwrights, Al (Allen stalwart Wallace Shawn) and Si (Neil Pepe), discussing the true nature of life over dinner. Si, who specialises in tragic dramas, argues that life is essentially comedic, while Al, who specialises in comedies, says that life is essentially tragic.

So as an exercise, they each use the same starting off point - a woman named Melinda busts in on a dinner party in a New York apartment - to weave a different tale, each employing their particular narrative strengths.

Australian actress Radha Mitchell (Man on Fire, Finding Neverland) plays Melinda in both stories, but she is the only common element. The Melinda characters in each story are in no way similar, and the supporting characters are all played by a variety of actors.

It's an irresistibly old school set up that you can only imagine coming from Woody Allen, who, while he pretty much invented his own genre, is often perceived as a traditionalist these days.

He executes the concept with wit and aplomb, creating one of his most enjoyable and well made films in years.

The last decade has seen a mixed bag of output from Allen. Some works have been polarising and brilliant (Deconstructing Harry, Sweet and Lowdown); others enjoyably light (Small Town Crooks, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion) and others just plain crappy (Hollywood Ending).

While Melinda and Melinda doesn't quite reach the dramatic and comedic heights of such classics as 1989's Crimes and Misdemeanors or 1986's Hannah and Her Sisters, it definitely recalls such works, and only benefits from the association.

It could be argued that a large section of the modern film audience takes Allen for granted. His movies never make much money at the box office (it's been a while since one's even been released in cinemas in New Zealand), and he's often said he wouldn't get funding for his films if it wasn't for the European audience.

However, partly as a result of his prodigious filmmaking frequency, but primarily due to his enduring talent, he puts out more consistently great comedy dramas than arguably any other living director.

But film audiences (at least those willing to look beyond the scandalised tabloid muck Allen seems unable to shed) tend to see him as out of touch, making films both for and featuring groups of people that no longer exist.

His films may be set in a world that doesn't exist (anymore), but darn it, it sure is a nice place to visit. Allen pretty much invented the modern romantic comedy, and remains the undisputed master of the form, verisimilitude or not.

Arguments for Allen's continued relevancy aside, Melinda and Melinda is a more broadly enjoyable film than some of his recent works, and features a stellar ensemble the likes of which you could only expect to see assembled in a Woody Allen movie.

Radha Mitchell is absolutely amazing in an unguarded, open performance worthy of Oscar attention. As the film deftly shifts between the two stories, she demonstrates a poise and elegance in both her roles, convincing equally as the alluring, tormented, tragic Melinda and as the spirited, irresistible, comedic Melinda.

The biggest name in the supporting cast is Will Ferrell (Anchorman, Elf) who plays a married neighbour of Melinda's who has a hopeless crush on her in the comedic story. As the Allen surrogate in the story, Ferrell's large, doofus charms blend nicely with the stuttering romantic character traits borrowed from the director.

Amanda Peet (A Lot Like Love), as Ferrell's shrill wife, and Chloe Sevigny (The Last Days of Disco) as a self-deluded old friend of tragic Melinda, also give great performances, perfectly slotting into the Allen universe.

Josh Brolin (Hollow Man) has a hilarious extended cameo as an alpha male romantic rival to Ferrell's character for comedic Melinda's attention. Also of note among the talented ensemble are Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting); Chiwetel Ejiofor (Love Actually, Dirty Pretty Things); Steve Carell (Anchorman; Bruce Almighty) and Brooke Smith (Series 7; The Silence of the Lambs).

Allen mixes comedic and dramatic elements better than anyone, and Melinda and Melinda blatantly highlights this fact, both in its concept and execution.

As the tragic and comedic stories play alongside each other, inter-cut throughout the film, they serve to draw out their own traits in each other, which could be interpreted as the point of the film - Al and Si are both right. Never has the old adage about the close alignment of comedy and tragedy been so fully and convincingly embodied.

When all is said and done though, Melinda and Melinda stands as one of Allen's most enjoyable films in recent years that ably ranks alongside the master filmmaker's greatest works.

Highly recommended.

Dominic Corry

Melinda and Melinda is screening at the Academy Cinema in Auckland, the Penthouse in Wellington, the Regent on Worcester in Christchurch and the Rialto in Dunedin.