Determined to break the story and make a name for herself, Pransky sets out, with Waterman’s help, to meet Lyman and lock down the facts necessary to publish the blockbuster allegations. But her journalistic objectivity will be sorely tested by the debonair Lyman, and her own willingness – expressed early in the film, when she sleeps with someone in a failed effort to garner an interview – to violate ethical standards in the pursuit of a story.

Johansson does herself no favors here. Her attempts at comedy aren’t painful, but neither are they clever. Allen’s script lets her down, but it also lets down Allen himself, who gives his nebbish character – the film’s least interesting – far too much screen time.

Better to give over that those valuable minutes to the charismatic Jackman, or the amusing McShane, who is sorely underused.

Scoop is most interesting once Jackman – whose character isn’t written to amuse – appears. Too bad, then, that the movie leans so heavily on comedy, which succeeds only intermittently, when it might have turned up the suspense and created genuine tension. Instead, we discover early on that the Tarot Card Killer’s victims are brunette prostitutes, and so have little reason to fear for the safety of the blond-haired reporter, Pransky. Danger does present itself late in the film, but it’s quickly resolved and the payoff is weak.

So here’s the “scoop.” Woody Allen just isn’t very funny anymore. Audiences discovered this long ago and have stayed away from his movies. "Match Point" forced a reconsideration of Allen’s ability to make compelling dramatic entertainment, but "Scoop" fails to build on that momentum, reminding us that even when he stumbles onto a good thing – in this case, Jackman and McShane – Allen is most enamored with himself, to the detriment of his films.

AUDIENCE:  Adults

CAUTIONS:

• Language/Profanity:  Lord’s name taken in vain; various profanities.
• Drugs/Alcohol:  Some drinking.
• Sex/Nudity:  Sondra has sex with two professional contacts; she lies in bed with a lover, who comments on her performance in bed.
• Violence/Crime:  Descriptions of murder victims, who are prostitutes; reckless driving.
• Religion:  A spirit defies the Grim Reaper and temporarily avoids his eternal fate; the main suspect is known as the “tarot card killer” because he leaves tarot cards with the bodies of his victims; Sondra says she’s interested in New Age phenomena.