Scoop (2006)

SCOOP  (2006)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Woody Allen
    Scarlett Johansson, Woody Allen, Hugh Jackman,
    Ian McShane, Romola Garai, Charles Dance,
    Fenella Woolgar, John Standing, Richard Johnson
For a while there early in the millennium, it seemed like all of Woody Allen's movies were about people trying to get away with murder. And for a year or two in there, it seemed like they all starred Scarlett Johansson. This movie covers both bases, with Scarett playing an aspiring journalist determined to crack a serial murder case, with the help of a stage magician played by Allen and a ghost played by Ian McShane. Woody's the father figure in this. (Good thing.) Scarlett's romantic interest is Hugh Jackman in a role that seems tailor-made for Hugh Grant. The mystery's good enough to get by, but what really carries it are the performances and (of course) the script. There's a funny, affectionate combativeness to the exchanges between Scarlett and Woody - they act like they've been working together forever - and the English locations are lovely. And where else but in a Woody Allen movie would the end come with Allen as the Great Splendini performing card tricks for his fellow passengers on the boat crossing the River Styx?