Scoop

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by Willie Waffle

Scoop

Woody Allen made a huge comeback last December with Match Point, which proved a good writer and director can find new inspiration (and success) by trying something new and different (are you listening M. Night Shyamalan?). He left Manhattan. He got away from relationship examinations. He made his first GREAT movie in several years. Now, Woody has returned with his new favorite muse, Scarlett Johansson, but he has gone back to the Curse of the Jade Scorpion-era instead of moving forward from his last triumph.

Ian McShane stars as Joe Strombel - one of the finest and most aggressive newspaper reporters in Great Britain. He has died, and, while sailing down the River Styx, he meets a young lady claiming to be the secretary for Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman) - a prominent aristocrat from a politically connected family. She is convinced she was intentionally poisoned to cover up her discovery that Peter is The Tarot Card Killer – a serial killer terrorizing London's prostitutes and capturing headlines in all of the newspaper, television and radio reports. Joe realizes this is a huge story, possibly the biggest scoop of his career, so he escapes the Grim Reaper's boat, and finds a way to appear to a young college reporter, Sondra (Scarlett Johansson), who is the subject of a magician's, Sid (Woody Allen), disappearing trick. Determined to get the story, Sondra sets off to investigate the hunky Peter, but soon finds herself falling in love with him.

Is Peter the Tarot Card Killer?

Allen has presented a movie with too much kvetching and not enough mystery. Instead of focusing on the main plot, he is distracted by attempts to infuse the movie with Borsht Belt Comedy full of set ups and one-liners that feel dated. Yes, it's a funny movie, but Allen almost hijacks it from his stars by inserting himself as a major leading player who doesn't have much to do with the story. He feels like a hanger on or intruder in his own movie as he spits out joke after joke, but not often advancing the plot with his antics. It's almost like a poorly conceived vanity sit com starring a comedian who badly is trying to translate his stand up routine into a 30-minute program.

Worst of all, he doubles the Woody factor by having Johansson act like a female version of himself (I hate to think what a psychologist will draw from THAT). She's still sexy and fun to watch, but it's like we get twice the Woody, when one is too much.

Also, he gets away from the more daring and interesting aspects of the film. We hear tales of Strombel's escapes from the Grimm Reaper, but never get to see what could be some funny physical comedy and hilarious scenes of him dodging death. It would be funnier if McShane was solving the crime with Johansson and constantly trying to sneak back from Hell to give her new leads and info, which would cut Woody Allen out. Instead, Allen and Johansson run around trying to solve the crime, bickering all the way, but seem to have very few moments of actual investigating and discovering facts. Even Woody's biggest scene at the climax of the movie needs more follow through instead of its throwaway explanation at the end of Scoop.

Scoop has many funny moments, Jackman is very good in a role that should be much larger to make the mystery more prominent in the film, and Johansson proves she can handle some comedy, but Scoop needed another draft or two of the script to make it complete. Instead, we get a comedy that is good enough, but not great.

2 Waffles (Out Of 4)

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