Melinda and Melinda
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: March 18, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
14
Negative:
5
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
USA TodayMike Clark
Smart, satisfying and compact but so modest in scale that only true-blue fans will sense - immediately - that it's Woody Allen's best outing in many years. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
In its complexity and wit, this is one of his (Allen's) best recent films. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Allen gives us at least half a classic comedy - more than we usually get at the movies these days - while having some elegant fun with an idea that has intrigued poets and smart alecks through the ages: the interchangeability of comedy and tragedy. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
Woody's back on solid ground with his first memorable pic of the new millennium. Read full review
80
VarietyDeborah Young
Radha Mitchell stirs memories of complex Allen heroines from Annie Hall on down, even if the action is dispersed via a larger ensemble cast which he currently favors. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Full of entertaining vignettes that eventually make a happy mockery, as they're meant to do, of the tragedy vs. comedy dialectic.
80
EmpireEmma Cochrane
It has great performances, snappy one-liners and a likeably tricksy structure, all wrapped up in an affirmative antidote to life’s daunting complexities. Welcome back, Woody. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
With Melinda and Melinda he's (Allen) not just going through the motions. He's saying the game isn't over before you laugh till it hurts. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
This is closer to an Allen comeback than anything else he's made recently. Maybe he'll achieve it with his next movie, "Match Point," due this year. Read full review
75
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Though Melinda is no masterpiece, it’s also an Allen film that requires almost zero special pleading. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
More accomplished, adventurous and original. Instead of Allen's usual investigation into the nature of existence, this new film looks at the way stories are created, particularly comedies. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
It's emotionally more alive than anything Allen has done since "Sweet and Lowdown," in 1999. I was absorbed in it, and I liked parts of it. And I wish to God it were better. Read full review
70
The New York TimesDana Stevens
As he (Allen) interweaves two versions of the Melinda story, one meant to be bathed in pathos, the other sprinkled with whimsy, it becomes apparent that his notions of comedy and tragedy do not quite correspond either to scholarly dogma or to everyday usage. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The best reason to see Melinda and Melinda is Radha Mitchell, who has her grabbiest role (or two of them) since she broke through with "High Art." Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
It's breezy enough, though, as a romantic comedy. And the stakes at risk in it are more grown-up and weighty than those in most Hollywood fare. Like Allen himself, you could do worse. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
tTere are two things going for Melinda and Melinda: Woody's not in it and Radha Mitchell is. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
But Allen can still write a good joke and there are some here. Not enough to say he has returned to form, but enough to remind you of what that form was. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Allen's best effort since 1999's "Sweet and Lowdown," but that's not saying a lot. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The dialogue rings tinny in the ear, as if enunciated in the phony arc of a stage light. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Has a fascinating premise; it's the execution that's sloppy. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Whatever you think of Melinda and Melinda, you have to admire Woody Allen for this: After years of criticism that he didn't use people of color in films, he's written two interracial romances. Read full review
60
TimeRichard Corliss
Allen has assembled an attractive cast and given most of them clichés to inhabit. He has also stinted on inventiveness. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Neither comedy nor tragedy, the movie is closest to genteel soap opera. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A medium-boil good time, mostly for its humor. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
It's all very well to say that laughter and tears are just a heartbeat apart, but both variations on Melinda's story bear the unmistakable mark of Allen's morose sensibilities. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
Not since Edward Norton kicked his own butt in Fight Club has the screen witnessed such a brutal self-drubbing. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Ken Tucker
When are we going to get a generation of actors who will finally decline to succumb to The Woody Mystique, and refuse to accept a proffered role without first deciding whether the entire damn project is worthwhile? Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Doesn't entirely work. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Beautifully shot by the great Vilmos Zsigmond, the movie is watchable, sporadically amusing and ultimately frustrating, because Allen is capable of so much more, but doesn't appear interested -- or willing -- to push himself any longer. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyBrendan Bernhard
From its austere opening credits to its screechy women, this 35th film by Woody Allen looks and sounds like a dozen other Allen movies. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverMelissa Levine
It's merely all right--very high-concept and on its way to interesting, but never there. Read full review
40
SlateDavid Edelstein
The Australian actress Radha Mitchell is the only reason to see the movie: She has an extraordinary open face and a way of mixing dreaminess with sudden bursts of lacerating emotion that recalls Jessica Lange. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Even these actors -- who, in other pictures, are often wonderful in distinctive ways -- don't seem like themselves: It's as if they've been pulverized and pressed into convenient actor shapes. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Allen's view of what's "deeply real" feels ever more deeply bogus as the movie progresses, his trademark wit having calcified into pastiche and unintended self-parody. Read full review
40
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The grave story is leaden, the comic story isn't funny, and the comparison--the rivalry--between the two modes is never crystallized. Read full review
38
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
It's disconcerting to see Ferrell, a master of macho psychosis, adopt the stop-and-go dithering of Woody Allen-style neurosis. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
A second-rate comedy and a third-rate drama, Melinda And Melinda gives viewers two unsatisfying movies in one. The only genuine tragedy here involves a once-brilliant comedy writer plunging further into a seemingly permanent artistic freefall. Read full review
30
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Give Woody Allen credit for ambition. Failing at one movie wasn't enough. Nearly anyone can do that; it happens all the time. He's chosen to fail at two simultaneously. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
This is mainly a narrative brain-teaser like "Memento" or "The Jacket"; merely keeping up with the game requires so much energy that the thinness of the material becomes fully apparent only toward the end. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
These days, Allen's pictures are more like snuff films, in which the viewer must suffer both gifted actors committing screen hara-kiri and a once-brilliant filmmaker soldiering on with his long, bullheaded decline. Read full review
More From This Movie

54 Critic Reviews

6.0 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 71 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL