While dining out with friends, Sy suggests the difficulty of separating comedy from tragedy. To illustrate his point, he tells his guests two parallel stories about Melinda ; both versions have the same basic elements, but one take on her state of affairs leans toward levity, while the other is full of anguish. Each story involves Melinda coping with a recent divorce through substance abuse while beginning a romantic relationship with a close friend's husband.

• Fox Searchlight Pictures
• Gravier Productions
• Chiwetel Ejiofor
• Will Ferrell
• Jonny Lee Miller
• Radha Mitchell
• Amanda Peet
• Chloë Sevigny
• Wallace Shawn
• David Aaron Baker