Scoop

Woody Allen's Match Point was one of the biggest hits of his career, said Calvin Wilson in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Even his most dispirited fans suddenly had reason to believe his long slump was finally over. Alas, his latest film, Scoop, 'œis guaranteed to renew their anxieties.' Like Match Point, it's set in London and involves murder. Scarlett Johansson, so memorably dispatched in Match Point, plays Sondra Pransky, an American journalism student visiting a friend in London and looking for a big story. She's tipped off by a ghost to the identity of a serial killer and sets out to nab him while falling in love with nobleman Peter Lyman'”who may be the killer. Even fans will have to admit the story 'œfeels slight.' Johansson flounders as much as the plot, said Richard Roeper in the Chicago Sun-Times. She nearly sunk Match Point by trying too hard, and she's 'œover her head here too.' Though she's adequate in her romantic scenes with Hugh Jackman's Peter, she falters in the speedy banter with Allen, who plays a magician assisting in her quest. It doesn't help that Allen's view of women has gone 'œfrom problematic to contemptuous over the years,' said Carina Chocano in the Los Angeles Times. The young ones are 'œtragic sexpots or birdbrained ingénues.' And the older ones fare even worse. Sondra is one of his most clueless women'”so clueless, in fact, that it's hard to see why Jackman falls for her. Worse, there's nothing in this movie we haven't seen before.

Rating: PG-13

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