I admit I am not a big Woody Allen fan, but I enjoyed some of earlier work as well as some of his more recent films, such as last year's Match Point, which was also unlike anything he had done before. With Scoop, Allen stays in London, instead of New York, but settles comfortably back into his familiar style, including a major role for himself.
Sandra (Scarlett Johansson) is an American journalism student vacationing in London. While participating at magician Splendini's (Woddy Allen) performance, the ghost of reporter Joe Strombel (Ian McShane) appears before her. Apparently he's gotten a fantastic tip from beyond the grave, indicating that Peter Lymen (Hugh Jackman), Lord Lymen's son, is the serial killer known as the Tarot Card Killer. The Tarot Card Killer has murdered a number of prostitutes around the city. He urges Sandra to investigate and expose the biggest story of her life.
With the help of her high society friends and Splendini (Sid Waterman in real life), Sandra manages to get close to Peter by posing as a naive actress named Jade Spence. Despite her suspicions, Sandra falls in love with Peter and becomes confused. The clues she finds point to Peter as the killer, but she can't believe such a charming, loving, extremely wealthy bloke could ever kill. Sid thinks otherwise and urges Sandra to be careful as her relationship with Peter becomes deeper and more dangerous.
Johansson once again plays a pretty, naive American girl. After her interesting portrayal as a temptress in Allen's Match Point, her performance here just seems phoned in and artificial, not to mention typecast. As usual, Allen (Hollywood Ending) plays himself – a neurotic, babbling, witty-in-an-irritating-way simpleton who's coerced into unlikely situations. He has some great lines, but his presence becomes grating after a while.
Jackman (X-Men: The Last Stand) gets to play a charming, privileged English gentleman and he aces it. Deep down you know you can't really trust the guy – he's just too good to be true. However, I did not get a lot of chemistry between him and Johansson, and that makes their romance rather forced. McShane (Deadwood) also has a fun time playing a dead guy obsessed with the story of his (after) life.
Article comments
1 - Triniman
Match Point was a nice surprise!
I've noticed something. Mention the name of Woody Allen, and the first thing people say is how they are not a fan of his films, generally speaking. I swear, this has happened so many times that I was not even slightly surprised to see you mention that you are not a big fan.