Film Comment: Scoop
Posted by Darrell A. Holmes on Sep 3, 2006 - 10:00:00 PM
“Scoop” begins with a funeral. A solemn, stale affair. It moves to the wake at a pub. Mates chat about what a great journalist their friend Joe Strombel was. Soon we’re atop the River Styx. The Reaper has reaped and carries his cargo toward their final destination. Strombel (Ian McShane) is aboard and has just discovered from a fellow passenger what would have been his last great scoop. Soon he’s leapt overboard and is swimming in the other direction.
This is the opening of a film that many critics suggest is minor-Allen or Woody-lite. What, pray-tell is meant by such comments? That the film is not a major accomplishment, that its tone is not dark enough. Why must so much of Allen’s work fall under such a banner? Is it not major because its achievements are not those of “Annie Hall,” “Manhattan” or “Hannah and Her Sisters?” Given this premise, its easy to conclude that the film does not have aspirations so high. Given this premise, its easy to conclude that the film is “lite.” Come on, he jumps off the boat while the Grim Reaper is looking the other way. This is not high comedy. This is not a self-reflective study on morality and the ego. Referring to Allen’s films such as "Scoop" as minor-Allen is trivial to the point of being meaningless. This is not a film that has any pretense about being a major work of art. The film makes us smile and an occasional chuckle, and for 90 minutes it pleases. For 90 minutes the time passes pleasantly. While this may not be a major film, these are not minor accomplishments.
The funniest business comes from cracks by Slendini, an aging magician/vaudevillian. Slendini is played by Allen in a role similar to one he played in "Anything Else" the older, fatherly, wisecracking sidekick. Allen’s bits and quips range from inspired to tired - which often still work since his stage act would be more at home in the early 1900s. Splendini is father-figure/sidekick to Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson), a journalism student who, while inside Splendini’s “dematerializer,” is visited by Strombel’s ghost. Strombel wants to give her the scoop: Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman), a Lord’s son, might be the dreaded Tarot card killer.
So the mystery isn’t all that mysterious and the comedy is a little dated and Scarlet Johansson seems ill-equipped to play less-than-sultry and there is no buying her and Jackman’s love connection, but dammit if “Scoop” doesn’t please, doesn’t while away the heated summer hours like a cool dip or a waffle cone. Are we really meant to fault Allen for that?
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