Yeah, I know I should have reviewed this a week ago, but I had a stomach bug last weekend. I finally saw the movie last night... so there. Leave me alone.
First, if you're not a Woody Allen fan, skip this review. You either dig his stuff or you don't.
My dad loves Allen's work, and since as long as I can remember it's been a yearly summer tradition to head out to the theatre and see his latest work. I love it. Now, not everything he does is great or even good, but I love that rain or shine, every summer, he's got another film out. If someone had never seen a Woody Allen film, I would not recommend Scoop. This film was for his fans.
So, what did I think of Scoop?
I liked it. I had problems with it, but overall it's good film and a nice return to comedy, probably his best comedy since the underrated Small Time Crooks.
If you don't know the plot, here the setup:
Sondra Pransky, (Scarlett Johansson) is a journalism student, staying with some friends in England when she goes to a magic show featuring The Great Splendini (Allen) where she is chosen by one of Allen to partake in an on-stage illusion... which involves a cabinet. While in the cabinet, the ghost of legendary journalist Joe Strombel (Ian McShane) materializes to give Pransky his last great scoop: Lord Lymon's son, Peter Lymon (Hugh Jackman) is the Tarot Card Killer (a notorius serial killer, not unlike Jack The Ripper... Killing prostitutes and everything). Johansson enlists Allen to infiltrate Jackman's life and that's where the story really starts up.
I'm not going to give anything else away, that always bugs me when reviewers do that.
I will say that like Match Point, Allen had me guessing throughout about how it was all going to turn out. The plot was exciting, and the jokes were flying. It's not a laugh a minute, but there are a lot of smiles and grins.
Allen plays his loveable nebbish character, for what is reported to be the last time, and it's a shame to see him go. He's fantastic in it. The character is 2/3rds Danny Rose and 1/3rd regular neurotic Woody. Instead of being the romantic interest, he plays more of a father figure to Johansson. I would have loved to see this kind of relationship a few more times before he retired the character, but if this is all we get for this dynamic, it's great. He's funny, caring and neurotic. He has a fondness for Johansson that reads as paternal and feels true. At one point he calls her, "child" and it seems really comfortable. The "Woody" character has a great sendoff, btw. I won't spoil it for you, but it's one of the funniest ends to a character ever.
Jackman is great as Peter Lymon: Billionaire playboy. He's got absolutely nothing funny to do, so he plays it straight and he 100% belongs in the picture.
If anyone is weak in this film it's Johansson. Allen has a difficult time writing jokes for other people that don't sound like Woody Allen jokes, so when other people deliver them, they tend to imitate Allen to try and make them work. Sometimes it works. Here it didn't. Poor Johansson, I know she's capable of playing comedy (she was fantastic in Ghost World) but maybe she's not suited for firing off one-liners. Her character seemed forced and two-dimensional at times. Mind you, about half way through the movie I stopped noticing how much her character stuck out, and just accepted it. It's almost like the first half she was struggling, then something clicked and she got into the rhythm of things. But that's a trick of the mind, unless they shot this movie in sequence.
It's not a great Allen film, but it's a great send off to one of the most endearing, pop-culture characters of all time.
I can't wait to see what he's got in store for us next summer.
