Scoop (2006)

Genre

Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Romance

Director

Woody Allen

Country

UK | USA

Cast

Scarlett Johansson, Woody Allen, Hugh Jackman, Ian McShane, Charles Dance, Romola Garai, Kevin R. McNally, Julian Glover, Victoria Hamilton, Fenella Woolgar, Geoff Bell, Alexander Armstrong, Anthony Head, Peter Mastin

Storyline

Dead British journalist Joe Strombel (Ian McShane) appears to the American student of journalism Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson) during a magic show and tells her that aristocrat Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman) is a serial killer. Dragging along Sid Waterman (Woody Allen), the magician, Sondra starts investigating and...

Opinion

After showing he still is a great director with the brilliant "Match Point", Woody Allen returned an year later with "Scoop", a delightful "detective" film that you will have you laughing like Allen's earlier silly movies.

Once again Allen shows what a writer he is with a story that is sure simple, yet very interesting and engaging. This time the compelling storyline is a blend of comedy, noir, thriller and fantasy - as if making a comedy-noir-thriller film wasn't hard enough already.

So yeah, the story is interesting and the way it unfolds it's great, but the best part of the script has yet to come. That would be the witty dialogue and the highly likable characters - from Woody Allen's usual neurotic character, to Scarlett Johansson's naive girl, to Hugh Jackman's suspected serial killer.

Like I mentioned before, this film is also very funny. It is arguably the most funny of Woody's comedies in years. There are a lot of jokes, some of which don't work well, but the majority is pretty solid and so are the gags.

However the thing that impressed me the most is the acting. I wouldn't have expected Scarlett Johansson to play such a character - a not-sexy, kinda clumsy girl - in a bazillion years, but most important, I would have never expected her to rock such a role. She really is breathtaking, and she also has a great chemistry with Allen - who by the way is hilarious as always. Hugh Jackman also does a good job as the supposed serial killer as well as Ian McShane as the dead journalist.