Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Scoop - Movie Review

A 2006 film set in London again! This time we have an amateur journalist Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson) who is chosen by the ghost of a senior journalist to leak a terrific story - a young business tycoon Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman) who is involved in serial killings called the Tarot Card Killings. The ghost keeps popping in and out and uses a small time magician Splendini's (Woody Allen) stage to reveal clues. Why the  girl and the magician work together is a mystery because I saw no reason for them to hang around but they do and that thankfully provides some entertainment in an otherwise very weak plot.

Woody Allen as the magician is good in the manner that he normally is - though not at his crackling best. Hugh Jackman looks good and looks the part. Scarlett Johansson is very comfortable in the way she slips in and out of beds with the rich and famous. The two pose as daughter and father to fool Hugh Jackman and his society but its obvious they cannot fool anyone. Now why did this not strike me as funny as the hopeless disguise that Woody chooses in 'Bananas'? Point to think about really. Perhaps the fact that 'Bananas' was an out and out comedy made it funnier. Or perhaps the sheer earnestness of the character to fool the Americans. Here Woody looks like he is having fun - sort of a self conscious fun for the audience - never looks like he is attempting to fool anyone in the film earnestly - and that is perhaps the difference. So it falls short of a full fledged comedy that makes you laugh aloud, and falls short of a murder mystery.

Anyway 'Scoop' is all about the newspaper stories. The most sensational story since Jack the Ripper. Is he the one or is he not? Wait until you find out. Not that you'll be terribly surprised when you find out who did it? Hugh Jackman of course!

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