Once More, Without Feeling
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Film the relative merits of their respective media. Their conversation is laced with Once More, Without pretentious generalities that could have been lifted from a celebrity interview on late-night television. They challenge Feeling each other to wTite his signature kind of play using the same material. They imagine a distraught young woman The comic story is not fanny; the named Melinda breaking in on a dinner party hosted hy one of her old classmates tragic one is not engaging. for her sophisticated friends. Her arrival acts as the catalyst for a chain reaction of adulteries and hetrayals. Does the situa- rs HARD. Reviews of Woody lished master of die medium? As I say, it's tion provide a better opportunity for .Allen's new films generally break hard. comedy or tragedy, they wonder? In the into two categories: The master Melinda and Melinda, to be blunt, intertwined twin narratives of the film, hasn't lost his touch, or the master is does not rank high as a film by Woody each playwright describes his own devel- Iin decline. Those of us who have followed opment of the story. Unfortunately, the Allen or by anylxxly else. .Astonishing as it .'Vllen's career closely over the last 30 seems, the major problem lies in ,'\Ilcn's comic story is not funny, and the tragic years and consider him the greatest own script. He returns to familiar territo- one is not engaging. At times it is diffi- American filmmaker of the post-studio ry, the world of sophisticated cult to recall which story is which. In the generation carry an overwhelming bur- Manhattanites dwelling on the fringes of postmodern world that ,Allen tries to cre- den. We measure his new films against the artistic community. They are young, ate in this film, comedy and tragedy are the classics, when he was younger and so insecure strivers, with beautiful, tastefully merely meaningless categories, .since the were we. We want desperately to praise decorated apartments (tn the Upper East universe is absurd and truth subjective. each new installment of his auteurial oeii- Side, with uncertain career prospects and We can almost hear the author in the vre. We strive heroically to make no children. .Although they are young, background challenging us to classify allowances, arming that he continues to they speak lines more appropriate to peo- him and his films as comic or serious. grow and experiment with new forms, ple of Allen's age. His dialogue has always The artistic imagination merely rear- that his new films reference his older ones provided memorable jokes, but in this ranges the pieces to fashion a coherent and Hollywood genres, that he has sur- film, the characters try to verbalize mem- story, which can he either fimny or trag- rendered the jokes of his early films for orable pbilosophic insights ahout the ic or both. In Allen's script, this underly- character development and philosophic meaning of life, offering gnomic utter- ing idea takes precedence over the dra- statement, that he is one of the few film- ances rather than dialogue. Cocktail party matic action. makers addressing an adult audience in an chatter, flirtations and arguments alike The characters in hoth stories seem age ot l)lockbusters and computer-gener- seem larded with "significant" quotations, old and tired beyond their years. Like ated mayhem targeted to 12-year-olds. as though the characters had written out insecure young people, they strive for We encourage audiences to be gratcRil their profoundest thoughts from recognition. Two are actors from that he is still trying to say something. Philosophy 101 and delivered them with Northwestern University trying to land the expectation that they would he cited in Yes, it's ail true, but it still makes it better parts than television commercials; collections of memorable screen lines difficult to review a Woody Allen film one is an assistant director trying to raise along with "We'll always have Paris" and without hringing a carload of baggage to money for her own independent film; "Frankly, my dear." These shallow and the project. Would his films get a differ- and another is an art history major from supercilious beaudful people on the screen ent reception if he had not made the great Brandeis, looking for a joh in a galier)' as mouth their ponderous cliches without ones, like "Crimes and Misdemeanors," a springboard to something else. Even creating any sense of self-sadre; they, and "Manhattan" or "Hannah and Her though they still upholster their egos more to the point, Allen actually seem to Sisters," hefore the current offering? with college achievements as the high believe that amid the convoluted syntax What if this were a film by someone else? points of their lives, they seem quite they are saying something important. Is it possible to judge a new Woody Allen secure financially and live in duplexes film on its own merits, without regret for The plot itself embodies a similar scarcely affordable to any but the mar- a spent talent or reverence for an estah- heavy kind of philosophic reflection. quee names of the Xew York artistic Over dinner in a posh New York restau- community. Unlike other aspiring HiCHARO A. BLAKE, S.J., is professof of fine rant, two playwrights, Sy (Wallace artists, they do not have to wait on tables arts and co-director of the film studies pro- Shawn), a comic author, and Max (Larry to pay the rent. A dentist who enters the gram at Boston College, Mass. Pine), a writer of serious drama, debate plot for a brief interlude drives a Bentley 22 America May 30, 2005 convertible and hosts a party at his wh(j follow him from one film to another. past Allen used his world of articulate but Southampton home, which is lavish The insulation from new, outside influ- troubled Manbattanitcs to raise key ques- enough to provide a suitable getaway for ences has served well in the past. It has tions about the human condition in this Donald Trump. Some of the characters allowed Woody Allen to create intensely post-industrial age. With "Melinda and seem ready to destroy their future with personal, innovative films. At this point, Melinda" he has reversed the process, alcohol and prescription drugs. As however, it seems that the long isolation using the closed Manhattan world of peo- upwardly mobile young professionals, has exacted its price, as was inevitahle. He ple like him to support the conclusions he tbey may be still nurturing tbeir ambi- has hecome more ruminative, chewing has already reached. The film is not as tions for the future, but they are jaded at over his key ideas and theories and grow- much a drama of ideas as a set of familiar the same time. Allen has put old spirits in ing further away from engaging, interest- ideas in a dramatic setting. young bodies. They arc burnt-out cases ing people and plausible situations. In tbe Richard A. Blake without ever having burst into flame. Will Ferrell as Hobie, one of the unemployed actors, takes on the role of whining, self-centered bundle ot insecuri- ties that Allen usually plays in his own pic- tures. It doesn't work. FerrelPs physical size works against the fragihties of the character. He stammers and offers witty asides directly into the camera, as Allen docs so effectively, hut he cannot disap- pear into the background as a disengaged voice the way Allen does. When he fails as a husband and an adulterer, it is not because the universe is stacked against him; it is simply because he is dumb, and because he is ohlivious to everyone around him. I lis cutting comments on the other characters lack conviction. He is a ventriloquist's dummy speaking /VJlen's words, but in his mouth the lines arc nK>re nasty than funny. The cast, including W'ill Ferrell, gives the film its best sbot and nearly salvages the script. Radha Mitchell in the tide role shows a remarkable versatility as she appears in both stories. She can be self- destructive while unwittingly destroying everyone around her, and as the focus switches, she becomes everyone's best friend, fragile but fun. Chloe Sevigny plays Laurel, a woman of mdependent wealth. She is intelligent, balanced and CALL TO compassionate toward her alcoholic actor PROTECT' husband (Jonny Lee Miller), but after The DONATE A PHONE CALL TO PROTECT CAMPAIGN playing a piano duet with Ellis (Chiwetel collects wireless phones to benefit victims of domestic violence. Proceeds from the sale of Ejiofor), she proves as fickle as everyone pbont's help fund agenciics that tlf^bt domf^stic violence and are also used to support the edu- else in her circle. cational efforts of the Wireless Foundation. Other phones are refurbished and I^ecome lifelines "Melinda and Melinda" is a disap- for domestic violence victims when faced wi!h an emergency situation. pointment hut not a sur^irise. For years Find a CALL TO PROTECT drop off location near you visit: Woody .'\Jlen has dismissed reviewers and http://www.wirelessfoundation.org/CalltoProtect/HowToDonateCTP.ctm critics as irrelevant to his work. He has or send phone to: written off audiences—in his best days his CALL TO PROTECT films were rarely box-office hits; now they 2555 Bishop Circle West have hecome only marginally profitable— Dexfer, Ml 48130-1563 and he has repeatedly asserted that he Donated phones are tax deductible. As the donor, you have the privilege works only for himself. He has put and responsibility of determining the value of your gift for tax purposes.