As to be expected, Woody Allen’s new film plays out much like a host of others he’s made over the course of his 40-year career, but alas it’s not nearly on par with the revered filmmaker’s best efforts — gems such as “Annie Hall,” “Hannah & Her Sisters,” and, more recently (six years, to be exact) “Sweet and Lowdown.” In the ensemble piece “Melinda and Melinda,” Allen revisits his favorite motifs — and if you’re unfamiliar with those, you might want to skip ahead to the next review — without exhibiting a renewed sense of awareness that his devoted fans have long been hoping for. Since “Lowdown,” Allen has helmed “Picking up the Pieces,” “Small Time Crooks,” “Anything Else,” “Hollywood Ending” and “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion,” middling pictures that all but the most forgiving of the faithful would concede equate to protracted slump. While it doesn’t quite end here, at least there are signs of resurgence. Woody landed himself a stellar cast led by Radha Mitchell in the titular role. She’s fantastic rendering two troubled Melindas in contrasting storylines — one tragic, the other comic (though it’s often hard to tell which is which). Playing an out-of-work, neuroses-bedeviled actor, Will Ferrell handles the “Woody character” more adeptly than anyone since the genuine article. His reaction to catching his calculating indie filmmaker wife (Amanda Peet, one of Hollywood’s most underrated actors) in a compromising position with a benefactor is hands-down the film’s funniest moment. Chloe Sevigny shines as a desperate housewife stuck in a doomed union with philandering thesp Jonny Lee Miller. Allen’s favorite production designer, Santo Loquasto, and Academy Award-winning DP Vilmos Zsigmond have crafted a look that envelops like a warm cardigan on a crisp autumn afternoon. (Rated PG-13 for adult situations involving sexuality, and some substance material. Running time: 100 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 18, 2005. Read the original PDF.