Match Point marked a surprising return to vital filmmaking form for Woody Allen, but that movie had the distinct advantage of not being a comedy. Scoop, in which Allen reteams with Match Point star Scarlett Johansson, ostensibly is, and therein lies the problem. Johansson plays a bumbling journalism student who gets a tip that could solve a series of murders plaguing London. Yes, Johansson – the seductress of Match Point and by default nearly every other film she’s in – is doing Woody Allen here, adopting the same fussy affectations he exhibits even when he’s opposite her on the screen. (He plays a corny magician who hangs around for reasons known only to Allen.)
