Melinda and Melinda

After watching a movie with your children or students, we encourage parents and teachers to look for education opportunities to teach with movies. Here are a few discussion topics that can help with lesson plans or teaching in the home.

In the film, the characters are unsure if they should get medical help for Melinda when she tells them she has taken 28 sleeping pills, but on a later occasion when they discover she has a tick in her leg, they drop everything and take her to emergency. Why? How can efforts to create drama or humor affect the way reality is portrayed?

When Hobie is trying to sort out his feelings for Melinda he concludes, “I’m convinced I’m in love with her because there is no logic to this.” Similarly, when Melinda’s boyfriend leaves her for another woman, he explains the situation by saying, “These things happen.” Is it really impossible to have any control over feelings of attraction for another person? How many of the problems depicted in this movie were the result of reckless romantic entanglements?