Recently deceased London-based newsman Joe Strobel (Ian McShane)
is being taken to the afterlife aboard a boat that’s packed with other recently
departed souls. After unsuccessfully trying to bribe the ominous-looking
black-cloaked riverman, Joe strikes up a conversation with fellow passenger Jane
Cook, a young woman who suspects that she was poisoned by her boss, Peter Lyman.
Cook suspects that Lyman, the son of an English lord, as well as a successful London businessman,
is the infamous Tarot Card Killer--but she can’t prove this now because she’s
dead. Cook’s suspicion, and her untimely murder, raises the hackles of Joe, who
smells a dynamite scoop--only he can’t do anything about it.
Well, actually, Joe does decide to skip this trip to the other side by jumping
overboard and swimming back to our reality. He appears as a ghostly form to
Sonja Pransky (Scarlett Johansson) a young American journalism student in London who is
participating in a dematerializing magic trick performed by the amazing
Splendini (Woody Allen). When Sonja confronts Splendini after the show, she
finds out two things: his name is really Sidney Waterman and that he had nothing
to do with the strange man appearing to Sonja in the dematerializing box. When
Joe Strobel re-appears once again, he gives Sonja the mission of tracking down
Lyman and getting the scoop on whether or not he’s really the Tarot Card Killer.
For the longest time, it was hard to be a Woody Allen fan, because he had pretty
much lost his way in a series of films that were both critical and box office
bombs. Then he got back on top of his game with Melinda And Melinda and
the marvelous Match Point. The latter film starred
Scarlett Johansson, who was reported to be Allen’s latest muse. That’s confirmed in
Scoop, where not only is Johansson his co-star, but she even acts like Allen,
with the same mannerisms, hand gestures, and fumbling manner of speech as him--a
performance which Johansson pulls off with great appeal. She spends the
better part of Scoop with Allen’s character in tow as they try to get clues on
Lyman (well-played with plenty of charm by X-Men’s Hugh Jackman), yet despite
their antics, Scoop just isn't as satisfying as it should be.
The film doesn’t work either as a comedy or as a mystery--it's not very funny,
nor is the mystery gripping enough--and Allen's trademarked, rambling neurotic
act seems tired and forced here. Perhaps it's because he appears so out place
hob-nobbing with the upper crust Brits. Ian McShane, who was so good as Al
Swearengen in Deadwood, also appears lost here as the spiritual Strobel.
While one can't blame him for wanting to work with the charming
Johansson once more (and she does make the film watchable), Scoop almost feels
like it's nothing more than an afterthought that Allen had after finishing Match
Point. If Allen was reinvigorated by working in London, then perhaps he should
consider going back to his old New York City stomping grounds once again for new
inspiration. If you're looking for a great comedy/mystery, check out Allen's
Manhattan Murder Mystery.
--SF
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