scoop

THE SYNOPSIS

London, England. Famed reporter Joe Strombel (McShane) has a massive coronary and kicks the bucket. As he floats down the River Styx, on a barge helmed by the Grim Reaper itself--it occurs to the dead reporter that he has to finish the scoop of a lifetime: the real identity of the Tarot Card Killer!

Meet American journalism student Sondra Pransky (Johansson)--who’s in London vacationing with family friends, and trying to find a scoop to kickstart her career. The sepulchral spirit of Joe Strombel finds Sondra when she volunteers for a magic act, featuring nebbish American magician Splendini--a.k.a. Sid Waterman (Allen).

Sondra convinces Sid that she saw a ghost and is now on a mission to uncover the identity of the killer--who may be handsome, wealthy Peter Lyman (Jackman). Impersonating a wealthy American socialite and her goofy father, Sondra and Sid infiltrate Peter’s life.. After a while, Sondra falls for the charming man.

Can Peter really be the Tarot Card Killer? Will Sondra end up choking Sid when he wusses out all of the time? Will the dead Joe Strombel find redemption from the Beyond? Watch the movie yourself!

THE CRITIQUE

London is the new Manhattan, at least according to Woody Allen. Shooting and setting his 2nd film in a row in the capital city of the United Kingdom, Allen must really like it there.

SCOOP is a return to the filmmaker’s shtick after the serious and intriguing Match Point (2005) turned a few heads (both critically and audience-wise). Though not a strong comedy, there’s a cuteness to it that one cannot shake off. While not a good movie, I found it to be mildly entertaining--and not having to put much into it in the way of concentration.

I do have a confession to make: this is the first Woody Allen picture that I have actually seen in the movie theater! I know, I know... what kinda movie professional am I?

The kind who’s not a big Woody Allen fan, thats what!! He’s never been one of my favorites, though I must confess that his early movies (‘70s fare like Sleeper & his Oscar©-winning Annie Hall) and mid-period movies (‘80s gems like Hannah And Her Sisters & Crimes & Misdemeanors) are on my DVD shelves.

The auteur has earned my respect over the years. Sadly, much of his repertoire (read: later films) has been hackneyed at best. Still, SCOOP finds him having a good time--and at a budget of only $4,000,000--he has a right to! It’s nice to see A-list thespians lining up to work with Allen for scale wages. That’s power, baby!

Actors Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson are terrific. Both are attractive, congenial and generally nice to look at (especially Scarlett--she’s hot!!). I love character actor Ian McShane--who’s finally (after several decades) getting the recognition he deserves as a smoldering presence on screen.

Allen is (as usual) the only real liability in the movie. Having written and directed the movie, he also threatens us with his acting. How many times can we see him do his New Yawk Jew routine and laugh? Hey Woody: it was almost funny in the ‘60s & ‘70s--but dumb now in the 21st century!

His script is mainly the real problem here. It’s whimsical, yet not really funny. Trying to be a mystery, SCOOP merely skims the surface of a what a good comedic murder-mystery is--think Deathtrap or Murder By Death. Hell, the real mystery is how Woody keeps getting millions to make his movies?!

Moving on to better pastures, at least the cinematography and entire mise-en-scene are much, much better. Credit the glossy and elegant lensing to British cinematographer Remi Adefarasin (Match Point/About A Boy/Elizabeth). I can really admit that SCOOP looked very nice--as did London!

Other production values (production design, editing, etc.) are totally top-drawer. Interestingly, I didn’t really notice a score for this movie. C’est la vie!

THE BOTTOM LINE

An amusing but rather staid murder-mystery-comedy that features a good cast and terrific production values. Well, at least Woody’s not playing the romantic leading man in this one. An almost-but-not-quite little movie. And I’ll reiterate it again: Scarlett Johansson is freakin’ hot!

CAST: Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Woody Allen, Ian McShane, Romola Garai, Julian Glover & Charles Dance

CREDITS: Director/Screenwriter: Woody Allen; Producers: Letty Aronson & Gareth Wiley; Director of Photography: Remi Adefarasin; Production Designer: Maria Djurkovic; Editor: Alisa Lepselter

AC/AL/V 2006 96m ENGLISH