Scoop
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Movie Reviews of Scoop
Movie Review: Great Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of my favorite movies. Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen are great together. Very funny. The story keeps you guessing a long time.Movie Review: A Mystery movie to see
Summary: 5 Stars
Woody Allen is absolutely hilarious and witty in the movie. The story line is intriguing and keeps your attention. A must see.Movie Review: A Fun Way to Spend Your Time
Summary: 4 Stars
I am by no means a Woody Allen buff. The only movies of his, besides this one, that I've seen are Small Time Crooks and Match Point, so I don't know what he was like when he was at the top of his game. Small Time Crooks was awful, but Match Point was amazing, and many critics hailed it as Allen's return to form. When I learned that he was doing another movie with Scarlett Johanson (who I will see in almost anything), I was very excited. Despite mediocre reviews, my interest didn't wane too much. In brief, I enjoyed the movie a lot and found it fun and entertaining. It is not going to win any Oscars, nor is it as good as the brilliant Match Point, but it's a good way to spend and hour and a half.
Sondra Pransky (Johanson) is a geeky journalism student vacationing in London. Coming from a family of dentists and dental hygenists, she is trying to break out of the life she was born into by pursuing a more adventurous career. She is awkward, speaks quickly, and has a tendancy to speak too close to people. While attending a magic show performed by another American living in London, Sid "Splendini" Waterman (Allen), she is confronted by the ghost of a recently deceased reporter named Joe Strombel (Ian McShane). While being escorted by Death across the River Styx (yes, they actually show this scene, which was subtly funny), he received a tip that a prominent English citizen may in fact be a serial killer known for leaving tarot cards beside his victims. Sondra asks Sid to help her out in order to find what could be the biggest scoop of the decade.
Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman) is the object of Sondra and Sid's investigation. He is the wealthy son of an English lord, and will no doubt enter politics within a few years. Upon meeting Sondra, who introduces herself as Jade Spence (and refers to Sid as her father), he is immediately smitten with the beautiful young woman. He begins inviting her and Sid to attend parties in the countryside as well begins putting the moves on her. The pair use the opportunities to further investigate Lyman. Though as the events of the story unfold, Sondra finds herself falling for Peter, while Sid, who begins the film as the skeptic, becomes convinced that despite only circumstantial evidence, Peter is the killer.
Jackman definitely does the best in the film. He perfectly plays Lyman as a charming man who may or may not be hiding a few secrets. Johansson is always good, but she seems a little unsure of how to play such an awkward character. At the beginning of the film, she is a little over the top, but as the movie goes on, she begins to get a better feel for her character (side note: she looks so awesome in her glasses!). McShane basically has only a cameo role, but he does a good job with it. As for Allen, half the time he is hilarious, the other half the time he is just annoying. His quirks are funny the first couple times, but each of his gags are done to death. His constant recitation of how much he loves people when he meets them is really only funny the first two times and the last time (due to the circumstances). It's amazing that Sondra stuck around with him so long or even invited him to join her in the first place, seeing as how she often talked about how much he annoyed her. These four parts were really the only four roles with any substance, though I must mention that I was very happy to see Anthony Stewart Head (Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) show up in a cameo role as a cop.
This film is definitely for people who are fans of the performers involved. Allen fans will probably like it (though some may complain about a few similarities to Match Point). People smitten with Johansson need no excuse to go see this, and Jackman and McShane are also worthy of attention. However, if you don't have any interest in the main actors, you might want to wait for home video/cable release. The characters are definitely stronger than the story. The story isn't bad, but the actors bring their characters to life convincingly and are able to turn what would have been a mediocre film into a fun story.
Movie Review: Not among Woody's best work, but still very entertaining nonetheless
Summary: 4 Stars
Of Woody Allen's output in the past twenty-five years, SCOOP is among his more lightly intended efforts. If all too often during that time Woody has been more auteur than entertainer, here he is almost pure entertainer. He basically is just trying to give us a good time and for the most part he succeeds. This is not among his best films, but it is easily one of his most enjoyable of recent years. Most of the audience comments I overheard upon leaving the preview showing in Chicago were very favorable.
SCOOP is one of Woody's odder films in that it is an unusual blend of supernatural fantasy, whodunit (or, rather, did-he-du-it), and romantic comedy. I won't divulge many plot details except that a newly dead journalist (played by Ian McShane) learns the identity of a serial killer from another newly dead person and determined to pull off one last scoop communicates the information to a young American journalism student (and former dental hygienist--giving rise to many excellent tooth jokes) visiting a friend in London. The student (played by Scarlett Johansson) elicits the helps of a ham stage magician (Woody), who aids her in her investigation by posing as her father. The other major cast member is Peter Lyman (played by the remarkable Hugh Jackman, who despite the ire of Dr. Cox on SCRUBS, is one of the most versatile and talented individuals in the movies).
This is not a deep movie, but it was not intended as such. The point is clearly to have a good time, laugh a lot, and enjoy watching Woody spin his tale. Not all the jokes are funny, but they are plentiful and many of them hit home. Apart from some astonishingly unfunny one-liners (though, again, many are quite good--though I have to add that if I were to compile a list of the one hundred best Woody Allen one-liners, probably none from the film would make this list), my one real complaint with the film is that the initial set up of the film is handled in cursory fashion. We aren't really told how or why Ian McShane is able to reappear briefly in the land of the living. It just happens. In this way, the film at times just doesn't feel very polished or finished.
The cast, as in virtually all Woody Allen films, is excellent. I am not a huge Scarlett Johansson fan, but I thought she was delightful in this. Most of her films have been rather serious in tone, but I wonder if comedy might not suit her better. Hugh Jackman is, as always, superb. My one complaint with his being in the X-MEN movies is that it has kept him from exploring a variety of roles. I really have no idea what his limits are. He has excelled in action and comedy. He has made no film musicals, but he is a highly accomplished veteran of the musical theater. Not matter what he undertakes he seemingly pulls it off without effort. Woody was basically Woody as Sid Waterman aka Splendini. Many roles he has undertaken have been either hard-to-believe or otherwise unsuited for his physique or talent, but this one is perfect. McShane is a truly amazing actor, but he is underutilized here in what is really a very small, if crucial, part. As a BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER fan, I have to mention a very brief appearance near the end of the film of Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy's Watcher Rupert Giles) as a police inspector.
I think this film will please most Woody Allen fans and even many nonfans will enjoy it. If I had to compare it to a previous film, it would most fairly compare to SMALL TIME CROOKS. Both are nonambitious efforts to simply entertain. I think SCOOP is the more successful of the two films. I certainly encourage fans to check this out and see for themselves.
Movie Review: A very entertaining, very funny, and very fun film
Summary: 4 Stars
Woody Allen seemed to be losing it at the start of the twenty-first century. The films he released around that time (THE CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION, SMALL TIME CROOKS, etc.) failed to make a lasting (or for that matter positive) impression on audiences. In 2004 he enjoyed something of a comeback with MELINDA AND MELINDA before bursting back on the scene with his thrilling masterwork MATCH POINT. Now he's back to whip up another slice of cinema greatness, and this is a slice considerably sweeter than (though not as classy as) MATCH POINT. This is SCOOP, one of the most delightful romantic comedies of the year.
SCOOP revolves around Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson), an American college student eyeing a career in journalism. While vacationing in England with a friend, she visits a magic show run by the timid Sid Waterman (Woody Allen). Sid decides to use Sondra in a magic trick involving a box from which Sondra will supposedly disappear. Instead of disappearing, Sondra watches as famous - and recently diseased - journalist Joe Strombel (Ian McShane) appears. Joe gives Sondra a tip on who may be the notorious "Tarot Card Killer" before vanishing into thin air. Now it's up to Sondra, along with incompetent magician Sid, to follow a lead from a dead journalist and investigate the man who may be a vicious serial killer: irresistible (and rich) bachelor Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman).
SCOOP is a compelling and thoroughly entertaining picture. It's not an unforgettable film, nor one that could be considered a moviemaking milestone. Much of the film's charm comes from the fact that it doesn't try to be. What it does try to be is a witty, entertaining, fun and funny mystery film, and that's exactly what it is. Much of the credit for this should go to Allen's taut, fine-tuned script. It has laughs a plenty, thrilling mystery, and not a slow spot in sight.
The rest of the credit goes to the cast. Though most people are accustomed to seeing Johansson portray scalding hot blonde bombshells in films like THE BLACK DAHLIA and MATCH POINT, her performance as a geeky young college student is surprisingly convincing. Jackman, as always, shines; he's every bit as charismatic as his character, and then some. With actors as great as these, it's a little surprising that Allen himself is the highlight of the cast. Sid the magician's foolishness isn't irking at all; in fact, it's immensely amusing, and Sid winds up as an almost adorable character rather than the bothersome twit he could have been. As a huge BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER fan, I was also immensely pleased to see Anthony Stewart Head pop up toward the end of the film as a detective.
Ashamed as I am to admit it, as of this writing I have seen only one other Woody Allen film, MATCH POINT. Thus I can't make any remarks about where SCOOP ranks in comparison to Allen's many previous films. I can and will say this, however: SCOOP is a delight. It's not grand, and it doesn't try to be. It is what it is: a very entertaining, very funny, very fun film, and a great way to spend two hours.