In flimsy 'Scoop,' Allen takes a big step backward

Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 28, 2006 at midnight

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It seems as if every Woody Allen movie, in one way or another, winds up being about Allen.

At this point, it's no longer interesting or even relevant to wonder whether Allen always plays himself on screen, a preoccupation that consumed massive supplies of yesterday's ink. These days, the question seems to involve Allen's creative powers: Just how much gas remains in Allen's tank?

Judging by Scoop, Allen's latest and one of his slightest efforts, the supply has run low, at least temporarily.

That's especially disappointing because Allen's last movie, Match Point, suggested that a major creative revival had taken place. A thriller with a mild social message, Match Point was made in Great Britain; it was sharply written and masterfully acted, and Allen remained safely behind the camera.

In Match Point Allen seemed to get out of his own way, which struck me as an important reason that his work achieved a clarity and assurance we hadn't seen in a long time.

Alas, Scoop represents a significant step backward. The longer the movie goes on, the more we feel as if we're watching a balloon deflate. Although this comedy again deals with murder and although it flirts with moral issues, it comes up short on laughs, not to mention substance.

Beyond all that, Allen's appearance in the movie - as a second-rate magician named Splendini - tends to weigh things down. Sure, a couple of Splendini's one-liners are funny, but Allen's like an alien in his own movie, an aging comic who can't find a place among his two youthful principals, Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson. It's as if he's playing a recycled and lesser version of Broadway Danny Rose, complete with catchphrase - "with all due respect." Danny mangled better words: He kept saying he didn't mean to be "facetious or didactic."

Scoop begins with an imaginative enough conceit. A tugboat is ferrying the late Joe Strombel (Ian McShane) across the River Styx. En route, Strombel - in life a ferociously gifted investigative reporter - receives shocking news from a fellow passenger. He learns that Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman), the son of an upper-crust nobleman, might be a serial killer who has been terrorizing London's prostitutes.

When Splendini does his magic act onstage, Strombel appears to a volunteer from the audience (Johansson). Strombel selects her because she's an aspiring journalist. He hands her the story of her life. Now, all she must do is prove it.

The setup raises hopes for the rest of the movie, but the threads soon begin to unravel. As Johansson's Sondra Pransky pursues her prey, she also falls for him. A game but miscast Johansson (a Jewish girl from Brooklyn?) tries to convince us that she now has doubts about Lyman, an upper-crust charmer who just as easily could have found his way into Match Point.

Improbably, she enlists Splendini's help in nailing the Tarot Card Killer, which sets up scenes with Johansson and Allen.

Audiences will probably be relieved that Splendini, who at one point poses as Pransky's father, maintains a paternal relationship with her. Sighs of relief will abound as it becomes clear that Allen hasn't written himself into the movie's romance.

The London settings add a bit of luster, but Scoop feels empty and shallow. It's as if Allen's past (bumbling characters and one-liners) has met up with his present (straight-ahead drama with capable British actors). The two manage to wrestle each other to a draw.

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