"Of course we can communicate. Now can we not talk about it?"

With dialogue like this, you know exactly what territory you are in. Woody Allen City.

Allen is unique among filmmakers. So confident is he with his tools, he is capable of cultivating an intriguing and irresistible drama/ comedy from the most mundane of situations.

In his latest effort, he manages to create two films for the price of one, allowing us as the audience to compare the nature of romantic comedies to the tragic tales of lost loves and sad souls.

On a rainy night out at a restaurant, four New Yorkers are enjoying dinner together when a discussion breaks out over an anecdote.

Max And Sy see the anecdote, and the resulting story that they would piece together as writers, from completely different view points.

Max would turn it into a tragedy, while Sy sees the situation as the perfect starting point for a romantic comedy.

What follows is effectively two different films running concurrently.

Max's story is a tale of Melinda, a strung out yuppie who interrupts a dinner party when searching for a new life. She turns to her yuppie friends (Johnny Lee Miller and Chloe Sevigny) for the help she craves and looks to piece her life back together.

Almost immediately after, Sy interrupts with his own interpretation. This time Melinda finds herself in more farcical situations, and instead of Johnny Lee Miller's stuck-up and spoilt brat of an actor as host, Melinda is welcomed by Will Ferrell's likeable and often hilarious portrayal of effectively the same person.

The story is broken up by brief explanations by the storytellers (The Princess Bride's Wallace Shawn is the stand out member of the dinner party), with the ultimate twist being that none of the action is actually happening, it's purely the thought trails of the two storytellers.

The writing is as sharp as any Allen comedy – "He knew how to touch me," - begins one exchange.

"Emotionally?" "No, with his hands," - and the story is genuinely enthralling, but it really couldn't be successful without some truly memorable performances.

Ferrell, in particular, plays a slightly restrained version of all his other characters, and despite his style of comedy being more slapstick than subtle, he is the stand-out member of a very strong cast.

This may be due, in part, to Ferrell's being the obligatory Woody Allen character, all neuroses and quick wit.

Sevigny and Miller too are both on the money with their spoilt yuppie types, but it's the ex-Neighbours star Radha Mitchell who steals the show, playing the same character from two completely different viewpoints so well that it takes a few scenes to realise it is in fact the same actor in two roles.

It isn't Allen's best movie of all time – the story sags after the initial novelty wears off – but it's one of the sharpest comedies of the year, at least it would be if it wasn't so tragic.

Richard Phippen