Scoop
When I saw the trailer for Woody Allen's latest film I thought that it looked entertaining. But when I read some of the reviews I was debating whether or not I should this film. A number of the reviews were not at all favorable. As a long time Allen fan I decided to take a chance and see Scoop. And I am happy that I did.
Scoop starts out with the recently deceased journalist Joe Strombel (Ian McShane) on his way to another world. One of the people on his journey is Jane Cook (Fenella Woolger) who is the former secretary to the high society businessman and budding politician Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman). Jane was onto some dirty business about Lyman being involved in the Tarot card murders and she thinks that she was poisoned by him. Strombel perks up because he knows that this could be a great scoop. But he has to find another journalist on the earth plane who can work on this piece.
Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson) is a college student who is also a budding journalist. She is in London visiting her friend Vivian (Romola Garai). One day she and Vivian take Vivian's brother to a magic show. The magician is an old timer named Sid Waterman. Sondra volunteers to be part of Sid's disappearing person act. While she is in the box the spirit of Strombel appears and tells her about Lyman and the murders. He tells her that he was looking for a journalist to break this story and she was the one he came up with. The next day Sondra goes back to see Sid and tells him what happened in the box. Sid doesn't believe her but then the spirit appears again and that helps him see the light. They decide to team up and try to solve the murder and in doing so they have to get friendly with Lyman. That is all I will say about the plot because I don't want to give anything else away.
While this film is not Allen's best or even close to a masterpiece it is very funny. I laughed quite a bit and so did the other members of the audience. I loved the way Allen tears into the British class system. I don't know why so many critics dumped on this film. I think that some of them are just jaded cranks. I was never bored and this is just the kind of film I like to see on a hot summer's afternoon. I liked Allen's one liners and I still think that he is a great comic actor. He never fails to bring a smile to my face. Johansson was very believable as Sondra and had great chemistry with Allen. It was nice to see Charles Dance in the small role as the editor of the Observer. We don't see enough of this great actor. Jackman is very handsome but I have to say that his role was not very demanding. Best of all was McShane. His charisma comes right through the screen. My only complaint is that we didn't see enough of him.
The verdict is if you are looking for something light and frothy that will lift your mood then this is the film for you. I think that Allen's next film (shooting in London as we speak and starring Colin Farrell and Ewan MacGregor) is supposed to be darker. And after that he is going to make a film in Barcelona (I heard that will be a romantic comedy). At 70 Allen is still going strong and I for one am still looking forward to what he will do next.
Scoop starts out with the recently deceased journalist Joe Strombel (Ian McShane) on his way to another world. One of the people on his journey is Jane Cook (Fenella Woolger) who is the former secretary to the high society businessman and budding politician Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman). Jane was onto some dirty business about Lyman being involved in the Tarot card murders and she thinks that she was poisoned by him. Strombel perks up because he knows that this could be a great scoop. But he has to find another journalist on the earth plane who can work on this piece.
Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson) is a college student who is also a budding journalist. She is in London visiting her friend Vivian (Romola Garai). One day she and Vivian take Vivian's brother to a magic show. The magician is an old timer named Sid Waterman. Sondra volunteers to be part of Sid's disappearing person act. While she is in the box the spirit of Strombel appears and tells her about Lyman and the murders. He tells her that he was looking for a journalist to break this story and she was the one he came up with. The next day Sondra goes back to see Sid and tells him what happened in the box. Sid doesn't believe her but then the spirit appears again and that helps him see the light. They decide to team up and try to solve the murder and in doing so they have to get friendly with Lyman. That is all I will say about the plot because I don't want to give anything else away.
While this film is not Allen's best or even close to a masterpiece it is very funny. I laughed quite a bit and so did the other members of the audience. I loved the way Allen tears into the British class system. I don't know why so many critics dumped on this film. I think that some of them are just jaded cranks. I was never bored and this is just the kind of film I like to see on a hot summer's afternoon. I liked Allen's one liners and I still think that he is a great comic actor. He never fails to bring a smile to my face. Johansson was very believable as Sondra and had great chemistry with Allen. It was nice to see Charles Dance in the small role as the editor of the Observer. We don't see enough of this great actor. Jackman is very handsome but I have to say that his role was not very demanding. Best of all was McShane. His charisma comes right through the screen. My only complaint is that we didn't see enough of him.
The verdict is if you are looking for something light and frothy that will lift your mood then this is the film for you. I think that Allen's next film (shooting in London as we speak and starring Colin Farrell and Ewan MacGregor) is supposed to be darker. And after that he is going to make a film in Barcelona (I heard that will be a romantic comedy). At 70 Allen is still going strong and I for one am still looking forward to what he will do next.
posted by Film Fanatic | 7:40 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home