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Scoop
Focus Features


6.8

based on 35 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 52 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some sexual content

Starring Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman, Woody Allen, Ian McShane, and Kevin McNally

In Woody Allen's new contemporary comedy, an American journalism student (Johansson) visiting friends in London happens upon the scoop of a lifetime. Along the investigative trail, she finds magic, murder, mystery - and perhaps love, with a British aristocrat (Jackman). (Focus Features)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Woody Allen
DIRECTED BY:	Woody Allen
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: November 21, 2006 Theatrical: July 28, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	96 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK / USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The film is a pleasure that doesn't rank with Allen's best but satisfies far more than most American comedies.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

No more than a beguiling trifle. But in the dog days of summer, it's a perk to wallow in inspired silliness.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

It's really, really funny.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The collision of sleek melodrama and old Woody Allen stand-up routines is at times oddly effective and at other times just odd.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's far from his (Allen) career best, but it's funny and he comes off well.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

An odd but agreeable little comedy.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Mr. Allen's invocation of the "Thin Man" films in an interview makes sense, even if he’s no William Powell and Ms. Johansson is certainly no Myrna Loy. Scoop was made by someone who understands that what makes the "Thin Man" series enduring isn't whodunit and why, but the way Nick and Nora look at each other as they sip their martinis, Asta nipping at their heels.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A light-hearted if ghostly murder mystery that for all the contemporary English locations feels like a 1930s studio film including a plot that bears little scrutiny. Along with the delectable Johansson, the film offers fun roles for Allen, Hugh Jackman and Ian McShane.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

It's the kind of small pleasure that can make you feel intensely grateful.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Johansson is not Allen's new Diane Keaton. She's closer to Mariel Hemingway -- though even Allen couldn't attempt to pull off a romance between his septuagenarian self and a girl in college.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Decidedly minor Woody.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

The rapport between Allen and Johansson (pretending to be father and daughter) is lively, and the variations on the same old jokes are plentiful.

Variety Todd McCarthy

After the accomplished smoothness of "Match Point," it's back to more ragged form in Scoop, despite the almost identical posh settings, and the return of Scarlett Johansson as leading lady.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

The first Allen picture since "Sweet and Lowdown" that doesn't leave a bad odor in its wake.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

A companion piece to "Match Point" that suffers all the more in comparison.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

A blend of lackluster comedy and lazy plotting, the film feels a lot like bad Hitchcock.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

To see Allen, now 70, trying to reclaim the persona he's been handing off is like watching Willie Mays fall down trying to hit a slow curve during his last season. Woody may go on to direct many great films, but it's time for him to retire Alvy Singer.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Scoop isn't going for complexity. It's a trifle.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

For the first time, Allen's trademark shtick sounds less like the anxious kvetching of an endearingly neurotic New Yorker and more like the ramblings of a tired, elderly man fumbling for the right words.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Rather than providing flashes of one-of-a-kind humor, Allen has reached the point where his critical and movie-going fans are humoring him.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A marginally funny comedy at best, recycles themes, scenes and even lines from Allen's own old movies - like many of Allen's later efforts.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Scoop is distinctly minor Allen, with less weight to it than one of his old humor doodles in The New Yorker.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Cobbled together from memorable parts of Allen's own (not to mention Hitchcock's) classics, Scoop doesn't establish its own identity.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The differences between the two movies are, first, that Scoop is a comedy and, second, unlike "Match Point," it's not very good, as Allen also returns to pre-Match Point mediocre form.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

As it is, the film perpetually teeters on the edge between a functional vehicle and a train wreck, and whenever Allen opens his mouth, he pushes it violently in the latter direction.

Austin Chronicle Brian Clark

Years ago, when Allen's inimitable comedy style still seemed fresh, Scoop may have joined the ranks of "Sleeper" and "Take the Money and Run" as a comedy classic. Today it provides a pleasant diversion.

Village Voice Bill Gallo

So flat, dull, and off form that it seems to have been conceived in a fog. It not only lacks the verve and energy of Allen's best New York–based work, it feels culturally adrift, like some bewildered tourist trying to read a city map held upside down.

Time Richard Corliss

At this late stage in a long career, Allen might consider not trying to make films like the early, funny ones. Instead he should aim simply to match "Match Point."

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

When Allen revives his plodding "Manhattan Murder Mystery" as the even duller Scoop, I snore.

Premiere Aaron Hillis

What once was a gifted comic's fluid improvisation is now a doddering old man so embarrassing he's uncomfortable to watch, and the surrogate father-daughter needling he has with Johansson is creepy when you realize Woody the director is shooting her seductively in that skintight bathing suit.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

The direction is lazy and the script thoroughly witless, from its token Bergman references to dialogue that suggests a night in borscht-belt hell.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

This gives nobody, least of all me, any pleasure, but a truth must be faced: Scoop is the worst movie Woody Allen has ever made.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Allen doesn't get us to care much about any of the characters here.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Allen is wretched. It is no kind of pleasure to say so, especially with the memory of the good things he has done; but here he simply plunks front and center the fact that he cannot act and never could.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Scoop is about 50 minutes of plot padded with 40 minutes of Woody being Woody.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 52 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

B B gave it a6:
Good acting, but a story too simple.

Brandon S. gave it a7:
I expected this to be middle of the road Woody and was pleasantly surprised. Though he has trouble writing for a younger female's voice, most of the time that works out okay, and all the performances were excellent. In the tradition of Manhattan Murder Mystery, this a fun, interesting, and, above all, funny, comedy. Not a classic, by any stretch, but an enjoyable movie.

Linda L. gave it a1:
I'm a big, longtime Woody Allen fan -- I even liked "Melinda and Melinda" and that movie he made with Jason Biggs! But this movie is a snooze, good actors turning in dull, lightweight performances. There was one funny line, so -- one point.

Michael P. gave it an8:
Come on, give the man a break! I read the posted reviews of this movie before seeing it last night, and I'm stunned by all the negativity. By what impossible standard are you judging this film, people? No, it wasn't Woody Allen's best movie, but he delivered--it had all the usual elements that I believe most of his fans love. There were a few laugh out loud jokes and some not so funny ones, like in all of his movies. Yes, the plot had some holes, but you don't go see his movies looking for a mind-blowing plot, that's not what he's about. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, and so did my wife. It will be a sad, sad time in my life when fall rolls around and there's not a new Woody Allen film to go see. Trust me. If you love Woody, you won't regret paying to see this film.

Danny R. gave it a0:
I used to be a HUGE Woody fan. And I get Woody. But it saddens me to say that this is by far Woody's worst movie of all time. There were massive plot holes in the script. The acting was terrible and worst of all so was the writing which is Woody's hallmark.

Jonathan A. gave it an8:
This one was hilarious. Then again, you won't enjoy it if you don't "GET" Woody Allen (which a lot of people do not). I "get" him (and it's not just about being obsessed with his films) and I found this one to be really funny and yet kind of dumb in a few spots. I think Scarlett Johansson is really talented (not to mention HOT) but she didn't work in this film. Her lines were delivered awkward and it really seemed like she was straining. Woody, on the other hand, was absolutely hilarious. I honestly believe he has not been this laugh-out-loud funny with one-liners and slapstick since 'Love and Death'. He was a complete breath of fresh air from the other actors he has cast in his films where they essentially try to play Woody. It had great cinematography and incredible music (but that's to be expected). So to summarize: one of his funniest films in years, though it loses points for Scarlett's weak performance.

Chad S. gave it a6:
Woody Allen assumes we've seen "Annie Hall", "Manhattan", and heck, even the underrated "Deconstructing Harry"; films in which his stammering neurotic persona works. The moviegoer who sees Allen in "Scoop" without these qualifiers and judges the performer and film on its own merits won't understand why this filmmaker still has its staunch defenders. Allen has long been an oldies-but-goodies act, but to me, his brand of humor is still preferable to comedy practitioners who cater to the post-literate. Allen looks and acts like the Uncle Walter Ben Folds sings about in one of his earlier songs, and Scarlett Johansson is not Marilyn Monroe(a sexbomb who is also a natural comic actress), but "Scoop" is watchable.

Scoop Focus Features

Scoop
Focus Features