Review of Scoop (2006) by Aiden T — 25 Feb 2015

Boy, you'd think that a Woody Allen movie that is a murder mystery starring the likes of Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman would be something really special. However, I was kind of surprised how formulaic the plot seemed to be. I think one issue is that I have watched too many murder mystery TV shows, so in order for a mystery to keep me engaged for an hour and a half it has to be a really intricate, or complex one. This most certainly is not that mystery. It's a very straightforward story where you are given the titular scoop in basically the first scene. The trick is figuring out whether the tip that the characters receive is accurate, or if the ghost that delivered the story was mistaken. Yes, you read that right, there is a man who comes back from the dead which is the inciting incident that gets Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen involved in the mystery. It's a strange choice how they do it as well, because Woody Allen's character is a magician by trade and they could have easily written that he harnessed some unprecedented power in order to bring this man back from the dead. However the ghost appearing at a magic show is written purely as a coincidence. It seems like a wasted opportunity, but I do like the humor of the river of death scenes where Ian McShane keeps escaping the Grim Reaper.

What I did enjoy in this film was some of the humor. It has that Woody Allen wit that you expect from him, and some of the one-liners are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. Woody does his traditional neurotic routine which plays well considering some of the precarious situations they get into. At times it is a bit awkward hearing Scarlett delivering lines that are so clearly scripted by Allen, she seems to be trying to match his style of delivery, but I do think she has good comedic timing. Hugh Jackman is the straight man throughout the film, and at times his performance is a bit flat. However I liked the fact that Allen cast him in this role because he is just charming enough that he has you as an audience member questioning whether he is actually guilty or not. Most actors would probably play the part either too nice, or too sinister and it would be a dead giveaway, but Jackman hits just the right balance. A lot of the tension this movie tries to manufacture is in those classic scenes of one character trying to sneak away to look for a clue hoping that the suspect doesn't catch them in the act. It's such a cliche that it didn't work for me at all. I never for a moment was concerned about Scarlett or Woody's safety, and so the entire movie had to rely on the jokes for entertainment. Since there weren't enough good jokes to carry a whole movie, and the plot was so thin, I can't recommend Scoop. It is not a terrible film by any stretch of the imagination, but it's certainly not a Woody Allen masterpiece.