Scoop (2006) Scoop (2006)

See also: _Index | Plot Structure (Scoop) | Backbeats (Scoop)

Quick Facts

• Director: Woody Allen
• Screenplay: Woody Allen
• Starring: Scarlett Johansson (Sondra Pransky), Hugh Jackman (Peter Lyman), Woody Allen (Sid Waterman / "Splendini"), Ian McShane (Joe Strombel), Romola Garai (Vivian)
• Cinematography: Remi Adefarasin
• Editor: Alisa Lepselter
• Runtime: 96 minutes
• Release Date: July 28, 2006 (US)
• MPAA Rating: PG-13
• Distributor: Focus Features
• IMDb: tt0457513

Overview

An American journalism student vacationing in London (Scarlett Johansson's Sondra Pransky) is handed a dead reporter's tip from the afterlife — Joe Strombel, slipping out of the boat to Hades, has cornered a freshly-deceased personal secretary who claims her boss poisoned her because she'd discovered he was the Tarot Card Killer. Strombel passes the tip to Sondra during the dematerializing-cabinet illusion of a third-rate American magician, Sid Waterman ("Splendini," played by Woody Allen). Sondra and Sid pose as an heiress and her father to infiltrate Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman), a charming aristocrat suspect — and Sondra falls for him while still chasing the story. The film is Woody Allen's second London picture, light comic-mystery in tone, with the dead reporter returning periodically to the boat scenes to push the investigation along from beyond.