Clive Coote

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"Scoop" is not a great Woody Allen movie; it’s not a great reporter movie, either. But this good-natured confection is more likely to please moviegoers than most other entries in this summer’s never-ending parade of high-octane blockbusters, most of which are re-treads of familiar material.

A lightweight, fish-out-of-water comedy written and directed by the Flatbush native, "Scoop" is about a wide-eyed, Brooklyn-born journalism student (Scarlett Johansson) who, while visiting friends in London, has the good fortune to stumble on the identity of a Jack-the-Ripper-type serial killer, thanks to the ghost of a recently deceased newsman, played by "Deadwood" star, Ian McShane.

Since this is a Woody Allen film, viewers won’t be too surprised with the silly conceit that the ghost makes his scintillating revelation while the girl is in a box helping a stage magician (Allen) perform a disappearing trick. Allen and Johansson then pose as a father and daughter from Brooklyn and insinuate themselves into upper crust English society in a clumsy attempt to identify the killer and launch the cub reporter’s nascent career.

Of course, Allen’s character is immediately embraced by the Brits who find his American wit and old-fashioned card tricks endlessly amusing, while Johansson’s "refreshingly" forward demeanor snags her a dashing aristocrat, played by "X-Men" hero Hugh Jackman, sans his Wolverine blades.

"Scoop" would probably fare better with critics and moviegoers if it hadn’t been the auteur’s follow-up to last year’s Oscar-nominated drama, "Match Point," a razor-sharp study of relationships between friends and lovers of different cultural heritages and social classes. Like "Scoop," "Match Point" was set in modern-day London, starred Johansson in a leading role and ended in murder.

However, the 2005 film raised expectations, perhaps unfairly, that Allen had returned to the former greatness he exhibited with his movies "Annie Hall," "Hannah and Her Sisters," "Bullets Over Broadway" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors." "Scoop" does not live up to those expectations and is more in the vein of his recent, lesser works like "Small-Time Crooks" and "Hollywood Ending."

The film also does not offer the kind of acute observations about the differences between the British and Americans that "Match Point" does, but to be fair, it isn’t really meant to. "Scoop" is a completely different type of movie, more concerned with entertaining us, than offering social commentary.

And, although it does have dozens of great lines, the Midwood High School graduate greedily bestows most of them upon his own character, leaving the audience to wish Allen had been a little more generous to his co-stars. That said, he and Johansson are fun to watch as bumbling, undercover reporters and one can’t help but be grateful Allen doesn’t try to make Johansson his love interest in this film; in fact, he even pokes fun of the age difference between the 21-year-old actress and Jackman, her older leading man.

Which brings us to the biggest problem with the film: the casting of Johansson as the ingénue. So good in "Match Point" as a seductive American actress who wreaks havoc in the lives of a wealthy British family, Johansson has shown she can hold her own with film icons like Robert Redford and John Travolta in dramas and has shown a knack for subtle humor in comedies like "Lost in Translation" and "In Good Company."

Unfortunately, from looking at "Scoop," it is clear that Johansson’s talent lies in playing the "old souls" and young women mature beyond their years from her previous films, and she does not have that same instinct for broad comedy; either that or Allen kept directing her to go "bigger," in which case, the error is his because it doesn’t work.

Although she definitely seems game for the role, Johansson comes across as manic and immature and it’s hard to believe that Jackman’s character would be so enchanted by her or that a well-respected British newspaper would take her seriously enough to print her story. It is not, however, difficult to believe she is somehow related to Allen’s character since they have such terrific on-screen chemistry.

Another sticking point is that, during the course of the 96-minute film, she also sleeps with two of the subjects of her articles, a move that does not convince us she is a serious journalist - or a naïve young woman.

All in all, "Scoop" is not the Woody Allen movie or reporter movie many would hope for, but filmgoers will enjoy it more than such disappointing "event" movies as "Poseidon," "The Omen" and "Click."

"Scoop" opens July 28 at the Cobble Hill Cinemas (265 Court St. at Douglass Street). For times and ticket prices, call (718) 596-9113.

©2006 Community Newspaper Group