Over a meal in a French restaurant, Sy poses a conundrum to his fellow diners: Is the essence of life comic or tragic? For the sake of argument, he tells a story, which the others then embellish to illustrate their takes on life. The story starts as follows: A young Manhattan couple, Park Avenue princess Laurel and tippling actor Lee, throw a dinner party to impress Lee's would-be producer when their long-lost friend Melinda appears at their front door, bedraggled and woebegone. In the tragic version of what happens next, the beautiful intruder is a disturbed woman who got bored with her Midwestern doctor-husband and dumped him for a photographer. Her husband took the children away and she spiraled into a suicidal depression that landed her straight-jacketed in a mental ward. In the comic version, Melinda is childless and a downstairs neighbor to the dinner hosts, who are ambitious Indy filmmaker Susan and under-employed actor Hobie. Back and forth the stories go, contrasting the destinies of the two Melindas.

Starring:

Amanda Peet, Arija Bareikis, Brooke Smith, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chloë Sevigny, Christina Kirk, Daniel Sunjata, David Aaron Baker, David Boston, Geoffrey Nauffts, Jacqueline Lovell, Jonny Lee Miller, Josh Brolin, Kenneth Edelson, Larry Pine, Matt Servitto, Michalina Almindo, Neil Pepe, Radha Mitchell, Sabrina Lloyd, Shalom Harlow, Stephanie Roth Haberl

Genre:

Drama, Comedy