Scoop (**)

Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Woody Allen, Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman, Ian McShane
Seen: April 16th 2008

** Out of ****

Since this is a Woody Allen movie, it is almost unnecessary to have to say that this is an oddball movie that will not be enjoyed by everyone. That said, it does have its moments – every Woody Allen movie has its moments, but unfortunately these moments are barely enough to fill a trailer.

Ian McShane stars as Joe Strombel, a reporter that dies just before breaking his last big “Scoop”, the story of the century, the expose on the Tarot-Card Killer. Could this be coincidence? Who knows? Well, Strombel knows, and he finds a way of telling the living about this, Sondra Pransky (Johansson) in particular. She is an American journalism student, who just happens to be called to the stage in Sid Waterman’s illusionist show, The Great Splendini as a volunteer.

When she is placed inside a box that will make her disappear, Strombel appears to her with the details of his story. Problem is, even he has not figured it out completely, and he sets Sondra on a goose-chase to find the suspected killer, supposedly Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman). Sondra and her “father”, Sid Waterman (Allen), think up plans to get close to Lyman, following the advice of the "ghost", and they decide that his love for pretty young girls will be their point of access.

The last half of the story gets a bit muddled as everyone is trying to figure out what’s going on with the occasional funny Allen moment. A whodunit done by Woody Allen becomes more of a whatchamacallit to the every man, and I will probably not go out of my way to see this one again, even though I did find a little bit of enjoyment here.