Melinda and Melinda

Woody Allen hit upon a plucky, imaginative concept for this pair of stories about a woman at loose ends, imagined as both comedy and tragedy by playwrights arguing whether life is inherently funny or sad. These bookend scenes are uncharacteristically clunky, but the parallel plots at the movie's heart, deftly woven together to compliment and play off each other, are Allen at his ironic, neurotic, romantic, poignant, peculiar best. Underappreciated Radha Mitchell (Finding Neverland) gives a flawless dual performance as the flighty, suicidal heroine, who arrives in each story by crashing a dinner party. One Melinda pratfalls into a stranger's dining room and announces she's overdosed on sleeping pills, setting in motion a farce of manners, while the other is a despondent, unstable mother who invites herself to stay with an old college chum after losing her income, her house, and custody of her kids. Friendships, infidelities, and unrequited love ensue in both stories as each Melinda tries to pull her life back together, making for laughs, soul-searching, and other cross-pollinating thematic elements enhancing the underlying premise that, depending on atmosphere and happenstance, tragedy and comedy are interchangeable. Boasting a strong supporting cast that includes Will Ferrell, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, and Chloe Sevigny, this is recommended. (R. Blackwelder)