.MOVIE LISTINGS | MOVIE REVIEW ARCHIVE | THEATER INFO Life After Death New Woody Allen film limps home after a strong start. BY JASON BLAIR SCOOP: Written and directed by Woody Allen. Cinematography, Remi Adefarasin. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman, Woody Allen, Charles Dance, Romola Garai, Julian Glover and Ian McShane. Focus Features, 2006. PG-13. 96 minutes. Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen in Scoop. Given the number and variety of Woody Allen films, it's difficult to generalize about the writer/director's output. Like any artist of such a long career, he's been called hot, cold and just merely lukewarm — and sometimes all three for the same picture. His work is so inward-looking that popular consensus is impossible, yet few would argue that Allen's work after Bullets Over Broadway (1994) didn't call for a change of scenery. As it happens, he now works in London for financial reasons, but the artistic impact of the move has been considerable, if only judging by Match Point (2005). An unflinching look at the desperation of adultery, Match Point builds slowly into a taut murder mystery, raising expectations for his next film, Scoop. That Scoop doesn't meet those expectations is due in part to the nature of Match Point. Allen's best dramatic film in many, many years, Match Point succeeds in part because Allen doesn't appear in it. The film is too dark for his neurotic self-examination. Although these two London films have Scarlett Johansson in common, Scoop is another genre entirely, a lighthearted comedy not unlike Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). Scoop showcases Allen's trademark mumbling, stumbling wit, but toward the latter half the movie just stumbles. When Scoop works, it's clever and inventive. When it doesn't, it's merely tedious. Allen appears to have death on his mind, but at least he manages to have fun along the way. At the movie's outset, Joe Strombel (Ian McShane, from "Deadwood") sits aboard the grim reaper's ferry boat. Strombel, a reporter, has recently died, as has Jane Cook (Fenella Woolgar), who tells Strombel a most interesting story. Cook claims her former employer is a serial killer. Strombel can't pass up the chance to make his first big scoop of the afterlife, so he crosses back over to the living world to make contact with the nearest reporter. That "reporter" turns out to be Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson), a student who writes for her campus newspaper. Allen literally plays the side act here, at least for the opening scenes: He's Sid Waterman, aka the Great Splendini, a small-time magician and purveyor of card tricks. Sid summons Sondra to the stage during one of his shows, at which point the deceased Strombel materializes, linking the three of them for the movie's duration. Allen and Johansson make a feisty pair, however incompatible they outwardly appear. The lovely Johansson downplays the glamour, coolly absorbing many of Allen's verbal tics while Allen stutters away at her. Passing as father and daughter, they infiltrate the estate of the supposed "Tarot Card Killer," a gentleman named Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman). The anxiety of being undercover sets the pair (and the film) into a frenzy, and these early to middle scenes contain the biggest laughs of the movie. But the slow accumulation of partial clues and dead ends eventually drags the movie down. Is Lyman the killer or is he not? Sondra and Sid end up trading points of view, but neither character betrays any actual tension, despite long monologues intended to convince us otherwise. There are some fine moments to this slight, charming film, and Allen uncorks some vintage whines. (Says Allen of his thin frame, "My anxiety is like aerobics. It's exercise.") Scoop isn't classic Woody Allen, but if merely good Woody is good enough for you, you'll find this latest installment to your liking.
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