[Frederica-l] NRO: Scoop

[Frederica at aol.com]

thanks to yall who wrote wondering where I'd gone; I made a trip south to 
visit family, and on return began shoveling my way through some old projects. Am 
beginning a new short book about the Virgin Theotokos -- please keep me in 
your prayers, I will try to do the bulk of the work during Dormition Fast. Even 
though I will go to Canada for a few days for a conference, and expect to have 
a new grandson (from Megan and Dave) any minute! 

This review is of a new Woody Allen movie, unfortunately disappointing. You 
can also read it on my website: 
http://www.frederica.com/writings/scoop.html

Scoop
 
After a run of movies that were so-so or worse, Woody Allen won praise for 
last year's "Match Point," and hopes were raised that he'd again found his 
footing. Unfortunately, "Scoop" slips. A comedy that is not very funny, a murder 
mystery that is not very suspenseful, "Scoop" is one more in a series of 
movieplex disappointments this summer. 
 
Like "Match Point," "Scoop" is set in London and stars Scarlett Johansen. And 
like "Match Point," the mystery involves a man who may or may not have 
committed murder, specifically of a sex partner. (If you admired "Match Point," 
you'll find the material covered much more effectively in Allen's 1989 "Crimes and 
Misdemeanors.") But "Scoop" wraps the mystery in a clumsy comedy, in which 
the pretty 21-year-old Johansen is compelled to wear round glasses and affect 
the fumbling, nervous manner of "Annie Hall" (1977), or even Woody himself. In 
some of her lines you can an uncanny impression of Woody Allen circa 1970, and 
it's easy to imagine the director repeating the line over and over until she 
got the desired intonation exactly memorized.
 
Scarlett Johansen is an appealing and gifted actress, and apparently 
agreeable to such direction, but in this film she appears to be under a strain. She 
plays Sondra Pransky, an American journalism student visiting friends in London. 
There's a strange opening sequence in which she runs into much-older movie 
director in a hotel lobby, reminds him that she had sent a letter asking for an 
interview, and then bops into his room with her notepad ready. The next thing 
we know, she's moaning to her friend that she went to bed with the director 
and didn't even get the interview. His character never reappears in the movie 
and has no purpose in the plot. In a 96 minute movie you hardly have time for 
sequences that are meaningless, but I hate to think what Woody's other motives 
might have been. 
 
Sondra then accompanies her friend to an afternoon variety show that includes 
a stage magician called Splendini (played by Allen). As part of his act, 
Splendini selects an audience member to step into an ornate case and then 
"disappear." (In "New York Stories," 1989, it was Allen's mother who stepped into the 
case and then literally disappeared, only to reappear as a vast, complaining 
face in the sky.) But when Sondra is closed in the case, someone joins her. 
 
It is hardworking investigative reporter Joe Strombel (Ian McShane), who 
recently died of a coronary, and has been floating on a boat in a misty river, 
helmed by a silent shrouded Death figure (more staid than the one in "Love and 
Death," 1975). On this boat in the netherworld, Strombel met a fellow deceased 
who gave him a major tip, and he can't bear to let it go. He wants Sondra, the 
journalism student, to follow up a lead that the "Tarot Card Killer" currently 
terrorizing London is none other than the handsome son of a British Lord, 
Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman).
 
Sondra inexplicably takes Splendini along as she attempts to meet Lyman, and 
there's another pointless scene in which they follow a man into an antique 
shop, and then realize it's the wrong guy. No laughs or plot purpose for this 
scene. But eventually she does meet Lyman, and passes Woody off as her father; 
from then on they are an ostensibly comic detective team, investigating the 
mystery with help from Stombel's clues. Plenty here recalls "Manhattan Murder 
Mystery" (1993), but it just doesn't have the same zip. In the earlier film, 
there's a hilarious and tense scene where Woody is almost caught investigating a 
host's room during a party. Here, same setup, but it fizzles. Woody is 
discovered standing outside the door of the room with a plausible excuse. He used to 
have better dramatic sense than that. 
 
Like Johansen, Hugh Jackman acts as hard as he can, and so does McShane. It 
appears that everyone on the set is bringing every ounce of energy they can to 
their roles, but it's like trying to get an ostrich to fly; no amount of tense 
effort can get it off the ground. The characters are curiously detached from 
each other, as if each role were filmed separately and then digitized 
together. 
 
Surprisingly, some of the cinematography also looks off - something that, 
given Woody's experience, ought to be perfect. A chase on foot in the evening is 
too dark, and several other scenes appeared to be out of focus. I know, the 
rule is "blame the projectionist," but it seemed that certain objects onscreen 
were in focus and others weren't. It was as if the depth of focus was extremely 
shallow, and anything too many inches away went fuzzy. For example, Splendini 
and Sondra sit on either side of a table in a newspaper office, looking away 
from us toward an editor who sits at the end, between them. His face is fuzzy, 
while theirs, only a little closer to us, are crisp. This can't be 
intentional: we're looking at the sides of their faces, and Sondra is wearing a big hat; 
it was the editor whose face we needed to see. Likewise, Lyman and Sondra 
sitting in a boat on a lake are fuzzy, while the side of the wooden boat is 
crisp. 
 
It's impossible to think about "Scoop" without recalling so many elements 
from earlier, better Woody Allen movies. Perhaps he is searching for inspiration 
by asking himself which of his films got the best reviews, or gave him the 
most satisfaction. But films like this one only bring down his average from 
excellent to so-so. Rent one of the earlier movies, and avoid "Scoop." 

********
Frederica Mathewes-Green
www.frederica.com
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