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Recco of the week: Scoop
Published on Sat, Apr 14, 2007 at 00:45, Updated on Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 06:55 in Entertainment section
Tags: Scoop, Woody Allen
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If you enjoy popular American cinema, then you have to be a fan of Woody Allen. He's one of my favourite filmmakers and I make it a point never to miss any of his pictures. In fact, the film I'm going to recommend today is Woody Allen's last movie Scoop, which is, incidentally the second film he shot in London recently after Matchpoint.
I think most of us were completely surprised by Matchpoint because it was such an unlikely film by Woody Allen. It was a fantastic thriller, but so not expected from Woody Allen... Having said that, Scoop, I think is the kind of Woody Allen film that we've come to expect from him.
A prominent journalist has just died, but even as he's heading to his final resting place, he remains committed to pursuing a hot tip on the identity of the mysterious Tarot Card Killer who's still-at-large in London. But how does he do his legwork now that he's dead?
Very simple — via an American journalism student played by Scarlett Johansson, whom he approaches with the information when she's volunteering in a magic trick. He gives her the scoop of a lifetime and he urges her to pursue the story.
To chase the story with her, Johansson enlists the help of a stage magician — played by Woody Allen himself, and while she's working on the story she meets and falls in love with a very polished, very good-looking young politician played by Hugh Jackman. The only problem is, her new boyfriend just may be the scoop that she's been working on.
Now for the most part, the film is fun because of all the hilarious bickering between Woody Allen and Scarlett Johansson who're posing as father and daughter while tracking the story.
Woody Allen as usual is full of all these clever lines, but it's great to see what a competent comic actress Scarlett Johansson has grown into. In all honesty, it's a very straightforward, simple story, but it's the manner in which Woody Allen pulls the rug from under your feet at the end of the film, that is truly remarkable.
He's a genius because he sets up a whole scenario, he leads you to believe something, then he surprises you with such a simple and obvious ending that you can't believe you were being set up all along.
Now Scoop released way back last year and it received mostly mixed reviews. Sure it's not as great as Annie Hall or Manhattan which are of course vintage Woody Allen.
But I think you'll enjoy Scoop because it's a film that tricks you when you don't even know it. Rent it on DVD from your library, watch it this weekend, believe me you'll want to go back and revisit old Woody Allen gems all week round.
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Make the director himself work in one of such films. So that he could understand how really it feel, when
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