Woody Allen's Got the Scoop

In recent years, Woody Allen seems to have taken to pumping out movies like McDonald’s pumps out hamburgers. Unfortunately, most of his recent movies have also matched the dismally mediocrity of Golden Arches burgers. Still, Match Point was a big step up, benefiting immensely from the London setting, the decision not to cast himself (or a stand in), and a couple of great performances, especially from Scarlett Johansson.

Now he’s back, yet again, with Scoop, which returns him to more traditional madcap, witticism-ridden territory. Still, I think the trailer looks fun. Allen is clearly still energized by filming in London, and he’s finally developed the smarts not to cast himself as the romantic lead, but instead as the sputtering old quack who can’t get the girl. Hugh Jackman will get to play charming and debonair, a pleasant change from the gruffer roles he’s been stuck with in between battling leather-clad, super-powered mutants. And Johansson has dropped her feisty, emotionally-unstable sexpot digs in favor of a thick-rimmed, journo-geeky appeal. Even if the movie isn’t all that great, there’s still the promise of another blitzkrieg of Allen’s sharp-witted one liners, at least some of which are guaranteed to score.