Allen thick

"Scoop"
(2006)

"Scoop" was my 36th Woody Allen movie. That means I've seen all but one, the elusive 1978 drama "Interiors." I feel the same way about Woody that I do about fellow New York film icon Spike Lee: I don't agree with everything the guy's about, but he's usually pretty insightful, and I've enjoyed something about all of his movies except for one. "Scoop" ranks somewhere in the middle of Allen's output, since I'd say it's a standard picture for the guy, especially coming off of the very good "Match Point." Many have pointed out its thematic similarities to that previous film, also a tale of love and murder involving someone seduced by high British society. In fact, "Scoop" has all the hallmarks we've come to expect from Woody in recent years: a predictably basic plot spiced by the occasional one-liner, unbelievable contrivances softened by the film's amiable breeziness, big name actors trying to act like Woody Allen characters, Woody filming himself in the company of a photogenic young actress as often as possible. The young actress here is Scarlett Johansson, playing an American college reporter who gets mixed up in a serial killer case while on holiday in London. Naturally, the focus is on the caper and not the murders, all the better to give us shots of Scarlett looking fetching and bewildered. Never mind how someone presented as an average college kid can afford to stay overseas all summer; as usual, Allen ignores such questions of privilege, which is part of why his films seem so hermetic and anachronistic.

Scarlett goes to a show by self-described prestidigitator Woody, billed as The Great Splendini. When she gets onstage and inside the box for his vanishing act, she's visited by a recently deceased journalist (Al Swearengen without the facial hair and cursing) who we have seen escape from the boat of Charon. He tells her the identity of the Tarot Card Killer, who's been slashing short-hired brunette hookers across London - apparently, Scarlett was the closest thing to a journalist that his spirit could find. Thus, she sets out to investigate Hugh Jackman, the dashing son of a rich dude, convincing Woody to come along after ghost Swearengen appears in front of him. As the pair infiltrates high society, Allen gets off the funniest lines of the movie while pretending to be a wacky oil tycoon, yet his stammering puffery is also one of the least believable elements. Why doesn't anyone question this guy? Meanwhile, Hugh understandably can't get the image of Scarlett stuffed into her swimsuit off of his mind, and Scarlett can't help but be swept up by Hugh's rugged good looks and posh lifestyle. There's still that Tarot Card Killer business, though. Allegiances are tested, secrets are revealed, the Killer is caught, Scarlett gets her scoop, everyone says things normal people wouldn't say. I can recommend "Scoop" as a harmless diversion for those of you in for the long haul with Woody Allen, but with the caveat that it will seem very familiar and that it's nowhere near his best work. The trailer, with Cantonese subtitles: