Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this movie will probably bore younger teens, since it's paced for the more mature Woody Allen fan. The plot turns on discovering the identity of a serial killer, although it's treated lightly -- if that's possible (it is a comedy...). There's an off-screen murder signaled by a woman's scream. Another near-murder involves a fight on a small boat. And still another death occurs off screen, a car crash signaled by a loud noise. Characters lie, break into locked rooms, and pilfer objects. Characters drink and smoke cigarettes.
Families can talk about the father-daughter relationship that develops between Sid and Sondra: How does he try to protect her and how does she resist his advice even as she solicits his help in pursuing her "scoop"? How does Peter look like the "perfect" boyfriend, and how is his appearance deceptive?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
SCOOP starts out much like Woody Allen's recent movies. A group of friends sit around a table, drinking and pondering a problem. In this case, they remember a dead reporter, Joe (Ian McShane), whose ruthlessness in pursuing a story is legendary.
Joe is so dedicated that when he gets a clue to a serial killer mystery after death (from one of the victims), he returns to the land of the living as a ghost. Specifically, he returns to a theater stage where a magician, the Great Splendini (Allen), also known as Sid, is performing shtick. When Sid solicits a pretty girl to step inside a "magic" box and "disappear," Joe joins her in the box. She's an American journalism student, Sondra (Scarlett Johansson), whom Joe encourages to pursue his "scoop."
The suspect is an aristocrat, Peter (Hugh Jackman), whom Sondra attracts by pretending to drown in a swimming pool. Within days, Sondra has fallen in love with Peter, and starts doubting the evidence she's been finding that points to his guilt. Her affair inspires Sid's jealousy, as a protective "paternal" figure. When he warns her that she shouldn't be pretending to be someone else -- namely, "Jade Spence" -- in order to solve the case and jumpstart her reporter's career, she observes dryly, "Your whole life is a deception. You're a magician."
If Scoop has a theme, deception might be it. Sondra deceives Peter, Sid deceives everyone except Sondra, and Peter might be deceiving both of them. "I don't like this whole thing," Sondra moans. "I don't like the whole process." As the movie considers how deception drives Joe, Sid, and Sondra -- not to mention the killer -- it also ponders processes of reading as well as performing, as these allow self-deception. And this sounds like an insight.
Angry when Sondra resists his version of the truth, Sid points out, "Even a great reporter can be wrong." Though it takes her a while, Sondra does learn to admit her mistakes. The men who surround her, however, never do.
Families who like this movie might also like other Allen movies that are similar, like Match Point or Manhattan Murder Mystery, a classic murder mystery comedy like The Thin Man. Even better, they might want to read a Nancy Drew book.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentCollege journalism student sleeps with her interview subject (off-screen, though she talks about it as a mistake); kissing, post-sex sleeping in same bed. |
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ViolenceSerial murders at center of mystery; girl pretends to drown to get a man's attention; woman screams off-screen as she is strangled (people on street react in horror); car crash off-screen kills a central character; two protagonists fight as one tries to drown the other. |
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Social BehaviorJournalism student lies about her identity; her love interest may be a serial murderer. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoSome smoking and drinking of champagne/liquor at parties; Sondra says she slept with a film director because she was "so drunk." |
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