| | | One Love. Two Versions. Seriously Funny.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.35:1, Pan and Scan (TV Format), Aspect Ratio 1.33:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound, English, Spanish, Subtitled
You'll "laugh till it hurts" (Rolling Stone) watching comedy superstar Will Ferrell lead a talented ensemble cast in this innovative and seriously funny film. Legendary writer/director Woody Allen tells a woman's story twice - once as a comedy, once as a drama. When emotionally desperate Melinda (Radha Mitchell) crashes a Manhattan dinner party, the chaos that ensues leads to romantic temptations and unexpected love affairs. Ferrell delivers a laugh-out-loud performance as a neurotic, out-of-work actor who falls for Melinda's quirky charms.
"Watching Ferrell here is a joy." Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News
"A wonderfully vibrant ride. The cast sparkles!" Boxoffice Magazine
"Will Ferrell leads an all-star cast in "the best thing Allen has done in years."" Bruce Handy, Vanity Fair
Editor's Note
Woody Allen mixes the tragic with the comic in MELINDA AND MELINDA, a delightful, intelligent look at two versions of the same story. After hearing a tale about a quirky woman who walks in unexpectedly on a dinner party in an apartment in New York City, Sy (Wallace Shawn) expands it into a romantic comedy, while Max (Larry Pine) turns it into an urban tragedy. Allen intercuts between the two retellings, intermingling cause and effect, love and romance, failure and success, as Melinda creates havoc in both fictional worlds. Each story has its own cast: the comedy features Will Ferrell, Amanda Peet, and Josh Brolin; the tragedy stars Chloe Sevigny, Jonny Lee Miller, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Radha Mitchell is the only repeat actor, playing both Melindas, and she does a tremendous job. Interestingly, the comic section is not a straight laughfest, like Allen's SLEEPERS, ANNIE HALL, or BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, and the more serious part is not nearly as dour as INTERIORS or ANOTHER WOMAN. Instead, Allen, who has been criticized by critics and fans alike for not making more funny films, has created two parallel universes that each combines aspects of comedy and tragedy, resulting in a wonderful, insightful drama.
| Features | 2-Sided DVD With Standard And Widescreen Formats | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: Spanish, French Dolby Digital Stereo | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Foxvideo |
| Release Date: 10/14/2008 |
| Running Time: 100 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2005 | | Catalog ID: 2228919 | | UPC: 00024543189299 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen/Standard 2.35:1/1.33:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Uncut
"[With] much philosophical pondering and a plethora of funny, fatalistic lines..." 04/01/2005 p.137Rolling Stone
"Mitchell works wonders as the deranged Melinda embraces her dark side....[Allen is] saying the game isn't over before you laugh till it hurts." 03/24/2005 p.82 Film Comment
"Props here to Santo Loquasto, the splendid production designer." 03/01/2005 p.73 USA Today
"[S]mart, satisfying and compact....It's Woody Allen's best outing in many years." 03/18/2005 p.5E Entertainment Weekly
"Mitchell, the rare beauty who doesn't act behind a screen of self-possession, lends urgency to the drama of someone coming apart, and she's moving in her romance..." 03/24/2005 p.54 Chicago Sun-Times
"[A] movie about the symbiosis of the filmmaker and the audience, who are required to conspire in the creation of an imaginary world. He shows us how he does it and how we do it. In its complexity and wit, this is one of his best recent films." 03/23/2005 p.58 Uncut
"[T]his is Allen's most satisfying for a while." 08/01/2005 p.135 Chicago Sun-Times 6 of 10
Figuring out where Woody Allen's career began its downward spiral requires little more than a glance at his filmography: 1992, with Shadows and Fog. It may be coincidental that his ugly breakup with Mia Farrow occurred shortly thereafter, but Allen hasn't made a truly great or memorable motion picture since the early 1990s. Lately, Allen's films have sunk into a state of heightened mediocrity - sporadically entertaining, but often disappointing, at least for those clinging to the hope that Allen will return to "form." I no longer expect great things from a Woody Allen movie, so something like Melinda and Melinda doesn't leave me despondent. This is the Allen we have come to recognize over the past decade. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
Melinda and Melinda is a movie about the symbiosis of the filmmaker and the audience, who are required to conspire in the creation of an imaginary world. He [Woody Allen] shows us how he does it and how we do it. In its complexity and wit, this is one of his best recent films. - Roger Ebert
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