Love him or hate him (and thanks to his idiosyncratic films and personal life he does indeed tend to polarise audiences) one can’t but help be impressed by Woody Allen’s writing talents and his work ethic. Melinda and Melinda marks Allen’s 35^th consecutive big screen outing as writer/director (his next flick “Match Point” is now screening at Cannes and he is currently prepping his new “fall project”) and this impressive statistic fails to include his handful of television projects, numerous acting gigs and the batch of plays he has penned throughout the past 4 decades.

Significantly, Melinda And Melinda also heralds Woody’s first big screen release in Australia for over 3 years as his previous 2 efforts (Hollywood Ending and Anything Else) went straight to video/DVD in this country and one hopes this will mark a bit of a resurgence for this peculiar but unique auteur.

In this clever comedy/drama Woody (wisely for some) opts to stay behind the camera in this dichotomous tale of modern social mores as we follow the fortunes/misfortunes of the edgy title character (a VERY impressive Radha Mitchell) as she inadvertently imposes herself in the cliquey confines of a group of affluent thirty-something New Yorkers. As he did in “Broadway Danny Rose” this fable unfolds courtesy of a heated intellectual discussion between a quartet of writers and comics who debate the contrasting appeals of a comic tale versus a tragic one. Hence the audience is treated to 2 completely different translations (one comic, one tragic) of the same story all built around the same central character (hence the title.)

Ex-pat Aussie actress Mitchell is terrific in her dual role as her insecure character falls in and out of love with a host of suitors and when her tragic/dubious past is revealed it turns her group of friend’s lives upside down. In typical Allen style the ensemble cast (Chloe Sevigny, Josh Brolin, Amanda Peet, Johnny Lee Miller, Chiwetel Ejiofor) of characters are whiny, pretentious and self-absorbed and this will no doubt annoy non-Woody fans while regular devotees may find a lot of the dialogue and proceedings most derivative of his previous work.

Where Melinda and Melinda does triumph ,however, is in the casting of the usually manic Will Ferrell who plays Allen’s on-screen alter-ego to perfection in a marvellously restrained performance (and he also gets to deliver ALL the funny trademark gags) but the real standout of this light but diverting flick is indeed the ingenious structure of the narrative which, once again, confirms the wealth of the Woodymeister’s writing prowess and creativity and proves that ,even in his later years and despite his ever-waning popularity, he still has plenty to offer and remains a force to be reckoned with.

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