Every Wednesday, FM writers Simon Columb and Brogan Morris write two short reviews on Woody Allen films … in the hope of watching all his films over the course of roughly 49 weeks. If you have been watching Woody’s films and want to join in, feel free to comment with short reviews yourself! Next up is Scoop and To Rome with Love…
Simon Columb on Scoop…
Magic, death and murder are often found in Woody Allen films. Scoop is no different, as Joe Stromble (Ian McShane), from beyond the grave, appears to reporter Sondra (Scarlett Johansson) in the middle of a magician’s (Woody Allen) show. He gives her the ‘scoop’ of a lifetime, revealing the tarot-card killer as upper-class businessman Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman). Pretending to play Father and daughter in many scenes, Scarlett Johansson is channelling her inner Woody Allen while acting with him. This means Scoop includes two neurotic, awkward Allen-esque characters, for the price of one. Considering the previous year saw the incredibly successful Match Point mark a high-point for Allen, similarly Scoop touches on wealth and power – and how it can corrupt. Including prat-falls and deft one-liners, Allen seems to be in comfortable territory. Far from perfect, Scoop includes playful comedy and, truthfully, it’s nice to see classic Woody back to his old tricks on screen.
Brogan Morris on To Rome with Love…
A late-Woody effort, To Rome with Love is content largely with being light and inessential, which might be finer if nestled in the batch of half-finished, vaguely interconnected comedic ideas there wasn’t a tender tale of lost love. In one of two English-language vignettes, Jesse Eisenberg is an architect torn between his girlfriend (Greta Gerwig) and her best friend (Ellen Page); Alec Baldwin is quite remarkable here, as someone surveying a doomed affair that mirrors one from his past, and it’s hard not to wish this was the film Woody had made whole. Farcical comedy ensues elsewhere, a highlight being the Twilight Zone-esque segment in which Roberto Benigni’s average schmuck inexplicably becomes a pap-hunted celebrity overnight. Allen the director doesn’t paint the titular setting as lovingly as he did Barcelona or Paris, but, making his first screen appearance in six years here, he’s as effective as ever as a performer.
Brogan Morris – Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the young princes. Follow Brogan on Twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion.
Originally published October 22, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
