Melinda and Melinda (2005)

The set-up is reminiscent of Broadway Danny Rose -- friends at a restaurant start talking and we see their conversation play out as a movie. In BDR, the story was a favorite anecdote about a talent agent and his most famous client. In M&M, a set-up is given and two playwrights, one comedic & one dramatic, take turns fleshing it out in their particular genre.

It's an interesting idea and I really liked the way that some elements wound up in both "plays," as I imagine would occur with stories being told aloud, each incorporating bits admired in the other's take on the material. But, since the set-up basically said "the people you're seeing are fictional," it held us from getting involved in either story and they wound up feeling like what they were: skeletal stories forcing one of two outcomes: happy Melinda or sad Melinda.

I also wish that some actor would be brave enough to interpret the "Woody Allen" part in a Woody Allen film differently than Woody would himself. It's almost torturous to watch Will Ferrell -- a very limited actor -- try an impersonation of the master of humorous angst.

C+