Movie Review: Scoop

Scoop: Torgo disapproves

This movie isn't good. It has potential. It just fails continually and sadly to live up to any of that potential.

First off, Woody Allen. "Annie Hall" is one of my favorite movies. I've liked many other movies he's made: "Bananas, "Deconstructing Harry," a few others. But there comes a point at which his recycling of the same jokes, if not in words then in structure, delivery, and punchline, gets bothersome.

Here, his character exists largely to do Woody Allen improv. I don't think it counts as improv when you've been doing it for this long. It's like "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" -- it's not really improv when you're just making the same sex jokes with the same 3 people for years. It's repetitive and uninspired.

Then there's the rest of the movie. Scarlett Johansson is hot, sure. But I'm not sure she can act. She plays Diane Keaton in this movie, but not that well. Hugh Jackman plays a British guy. I thought he was Australian. If so, then he's at least trying out a different accent. Ian McShane tries to work with what he's given, and he has the role that could be the most fun, but there just isn't enough there to make it happen.

I tried to imagine what the movie would be like without Woody Allen's character. It'd be about 30 minutes long, first of all. Then, it'd be like a bad episode of a "Charmed," without the witchcraft or sisters. Is "Charmed" still on? That used to be a show M-N liked.

This movie just isn't good.