Scoop

In this somewhat familiar story, the now-70-year-old Woody Allen plays a rambling stage magician in London who gets unwillingly roped into helping a young woman (Scarlett Johansson) find out the true identity of a potential serial killer (Hugh Jackman). The girl is an aspiring reporter who receives a tip from the spirit of a recently deceased writer that Jackman may be her man.

Woody had just made the superior and steamy drama MATCH POINT (2005) with Scarlett Johansson and was probably taken with her, so he tried casting her here alongside himself in something comical. At least he's beginning to realize he has become too long in the tooth to continue playing younger girls' love interests, and so he assumes the role of go-between mentor to the two young leads. Unsurprisingly, Jackman and Johansson are destined to become romantically involved as Scarlett pursues her investigation. Hugh Jackman is fine in his part, and though upon my first viewing of this I didn't quite buy Johansson's performance, a second look found her characterization working for me.

This film is only occasionally humorous and rather middle of the road as far as the director's overall dossier is concerned. I'm always game to continue seeing Woody cast himself in his own future comedies, so long as he keeps writing them more in line with his advancing age. Who knows, maybe he can make a senior citizen type of farce one day. **1/2 out of ****

Admittedly on first viewing I didn't care for Scoop, finding it weirdly plotted and not very funny. Seeing it again as part of a Woody Allen film marathon and being much more used to his style(that I wasn't at the time on first viewing must have a lot to do with not caring for it in the first place), Scoop was far better than initially remembered. It is a long way from Allen's best films, see Annie Hall, Manhattan, Crimes and Misdemeanours, Hannah and her Sisters and Husbands and Wives to see him at his best, but it is better than Cassandra's Dream and To Rome with Love. Scoop is not without imperfections, the story is very far-fetched at times with some convolutions and scenes that don't add to very much, Hugh Jackman is very underused and Scarlett Johansson looks uncomfortable, she's much better in Match Point. Scoop is photographed with style and atmosphere and there is great use of locations. The classical music score is a good fit and will be a delight for any classical music fan, while Allen's directing is as adroit as ever. Allen's writing has been much more insightful and thought-provoking, but the script is still very clever and funny(and in distinctive Woody Allen style), Allen and Ian McShane have the best lines, and while the story is not completely successful the blend of comedy and mystery has enough moments where it works(it has been done far better before though, notably Crimes and Misdemeanours). Allen is hilarious and witty- knowing exactly how to say and time his lines- though with a character that had a danger of falling into the trap of mugging. Ian McShane is wonderfully mysterious and says his lines, and as said before he has the best of them alongside Allen, in a sardonically sly fashion, you just wish he had more screen time. And while Hugh Jackman is underused when you do see him he is dashing and charismatic. All in all, it is easy to see why people won't like Scoop, initially I didn't but on re-watch while problematic it was much better than expected considering the rep it has among a fair few people that consider it as one of Allen's worst. 7/10 Bethany Cox

"Scoop" is also the name of a late-Thirties Evelyn Waugh novel, and Woody Allen's new movie, though set today, has a nostalgic charm and simplicity. It hasn't the depth of characterization, intense performances, suspense or shocking final frisson of Allen's penultimate effort "Match Point," (argued by many, including this reviewer, to be a strong return to form) but "Scoop" does closely resemble Allen's last outing in its focus on English aristocrats, posh London flats, murder, and detection. This time Woody leaves behind the arriviste murder mystery genre and returns to comedy, and is himself back on the screen as an amiable vaudevillian, a magician called Sid Waterman, stage moniker The Great Splendini, who counters some snobs' probing with, "I used to be of the Hebrew persuasion, but as I got older, I converted to narcissism." Following a revelation in the midst of Splendini's standard dematerializing act, with Scarlett Johansson (as Sondra Pransky) the audience volunteer, the mismatched pair get drawn into a dead ace English journalist's post-mortem attempt to score one last top news story. On the edge of the Styx Joe Strombel (Ian McShane) has just met the shade of one Lord Lyman's son's secretary, who says she was poisoned, and she's told him the charming aristocratic bounder son Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman) was the Tarot Card murderer, a London serial killer. Sondra and Sid immediately become a pair of amateur sleuths. With Sid's deadpan wit and Sondra's bumptious beauty they cut a quick swath through to the cream of the London aristocracy.

Woody isn't pawing his young heroine muse -- as in "Match Point," Johansson again -- as in the past. This time moreover Scarlett's not an ambitious sexpot and would-be movie star. She's morphed surprisingly into a klutzy, bespectacled but still pretty coed. Sid and Sondra have no flirtation, which is a great relief. They simply team up, more or less politely, to carry out Strombel's wishes by befriending Lyman and watching him for clues to his guilt. With only minimal protests Sid consents to appear as Sondra's dad. Sondra, who's captivated Peter by pretending to drown in his club pool, re-christens herself Jade Spence. Mr. Spence, i.e., Woody, keeps breaking cover by doing card tricks, but he amuses dowagers with these and beats their husbands at poker, spewing non-stop one-liners and all the while maintaining, apparently with success, that he's in oil and precious metals, just as "Jade" has told him to say.

That's about all there is to it, or all that can be told without spoiling the story by revealing its outcome. At first Allen's decision to make Johansson a gauche, naively plainspoken, and badly dressed college girl seems not just unkind but an all-around bad decision. But Johansson, who has pluck and panache as an actress, miraculously manages to carry it off, helped by Jackman, an actor who knows how to make any actress appear desirable, if he desires her. The film actually creates a sense of relationships, to make up for it limited range of characters: Sid and Sondra spar in a friendly way, and Peter and Sondra have a believable attraction even though it's artificial and tainted (she is, after all, going to bed with a suspected homicidal maniac).

What palls a bit is Allen's again drooling over English wealth and class, things his Brooklyn background seems to have left him, despite all his celebrity, with a irresistible hankering for. Jackman is an impressive fellow, glamorous and dashing. His parents were English. But could this athletic musical comedy star raised in Australia ("X-Man's" Wolverine) really pass as an aristocrat? Only in the movies, perhaps (here and in "Kate and Leopold").

This isn't as strong a film as "Match Point," but to say it's a loser as some viewers have is quite wrong. It has no more depth than a half-hour radio drama or a TV show, but Woody's jokes are far funnier and more original than you'll get in any such media affair, and sometimes they show a return to the old wit and cleverness. It doesn't matter if a movie is silly or slapdash when it's diverting summer entertainment. On a hot day you don't want a heavy meal. The whole thing deliciously evokes a time when movie comedies were really light escapist entertainment, without crude jokes or bombastic effects; without Vince Vaughan or Owen Wilson. Critics are eager to tell you this is a return to the Allen decline that preceded "Match Point." Don't believe them. He doesn't try too hard. Why should he? He may be 70, but verbally, he's still light on his feet. And his body moves pretty fast too.

Reading a wide variety of "Scoop" reviews over the past few days, I walked into the theater prepared for a subpar outing from Woody. Happily, I couldn't have been more wrong. Granted, Woody the performer is slowing down a touch or two, but Woody the writer/director is in fine form - and found a credible way to integrate his 70-year old self into the story. Judging from the laughter and guffaws, the audience ate up Allen's one-liners and dialogue in a way that I haven't seen in several years.

In a movie landscape dominated by software-approved story arcs, twentysomething tastes and assembly-line formula fare for kiddies, it's a source of both satisfaction and inspiration to see Allen pursuing his highly personal and still-rewarding path.

Greetings again from the darkness. Remember all the "What happened to Woody Allen?" jokes? Even Mr. Allen poked fun at the fans who wanted him to continue making his same "funny" films. As with any great artist, Mr. Allen's craft evolved over the years and he lost some fans, while picking up others. Last year's masterpiece "Matchpoint" showed he is still every bit as relevant and poignant as he was in the days of "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan". What is most striking to us 40 plus year fans is that Mr. New York himself seems to have a bit of a crush on the mother country. Apparently he actually likes England!! While filming "Matchpoint", Mr. Allen became enamored with Scarlett Johansson and her real life spirit and sense of humor. This attraction motivated him to write his best comedy in years. Scarlett, while risking overexposure, must be given credit for not just picking films that cast her in some glamorous light. She is unafraid to look and act like a real person. In "Scoop", she flashes some real on screen comedy chops and, in many scenes, delivers the real punchline to Mr. Allen's straight man. Of course, any time Mr. Allen decides to put himself in front of the camera, he will get more than his share of one liners and social commentaries in - which is fine, because few do it better.

Very nice support work from Ian McShane and Hugh Jackman. In fact, Mr. Jackman provides a few glimpses into why many of us thought him the best choice to replace Brosnan as the new Bond. As with most of Allen's films, the star is the script, not the actors. Although Scarlett delivers superbly here and is a nice contrast to the polished Allen and Jackman, what makes this one crackle is the dialogue ... especially the banter between Allen and Scarlett. If you are not a huge Woody the actor fan, fear not. He does limit his screen time and he is quite effective, except in two or three brief scenes that almost seem out of place. Another Woodman tradition is a sparkling musical background and "Scoop" is no exception ... especially the Strauss composition.

"Scoop" is a nice cross between "Annie Hall" and the best of the Marx Brothers films or the Cary Grant comedies. Yes it is an adult comedy, but it is actually very cute ... especially for a serial killer and talking ghost comedy!!