scoop be also the name of a late thirty evelyn waugh novel and and woody allen new movie and though set today and have a nostalgic charm and simplicity . it hasn not the depth of characterization and intense performance and suspense or shock final frisson of allen penultimate effort match point and ( argue by many and include this reviewer and to be a strong return to form ) but scoop do closely resemble allen last outing in it focus on english aristocrat and posh london flat and murder and and detection . this time woody leave behind the arriviste murder mystery genre and return to comedy and and be himself back on the screen a an amiable vaudevillian and a magician call sid waterman and stage moniker the great splendini and who counter some snob probe with and i use to be of the hebrew persuasion and but a i get old and i convert to narcissism . follow a revelation in the midst of splendini standard dematerialize act and with scarlett johansson ( a sondra pransky ) the audience volunteer and the mismatch pair get draw into a dead ace english journalist post mortem attempt to score one last top news story . on the edge of the styx joe strombel ( ian mcshane ) have just meet the shade of one lord lyman son secretary and who say she be poison and and she tell him the charm aristocratic bounder son peter lyman ( hugh jackman ) be the tarot card murderer and a london serial killer . sondra and sid immediately become a pair of amateur sleuth . with sid deadpan wit and sondra bumptious beauty they cut a quick swath through to the cream of the london aristocracy . woody isn not paw his young heroine muse a in match point and johansson again a in the past . this time moreover scarlett not an ambitious sexpot and would be movie star . she morph surprisingly into a klutzy and bespectacled but still pretty coed . sid and sondra have no flirtation and which be a great relief . they simply team up and more or less politely and to carry out strombel wish by befriend lyman and watch him for clue to his guilt . with only minimal protest sid consent to appear a sondra dad . sondra and who captivate peter by pretend to drown in his club pool and re christens herself jade spence . mr. spence and i. e. and woody and keep break cover by do card trick and but he amuse dowager with these and beat their husband at poker and spew non stop one liner and all the while maintaining and apparently with success and that he in oil and precious metal and just a jade have tell him to say . that about all there be to it and or all that can be tell without spoil the story by reveal it outcome . at first allen decision to make johansson a gauche and naively plainspoken and and badly dress college girl seem not just unkind but an all around bad decision . but johansson and who have pluck and panache a an actress and miraculously manages to carry it off and help by jackman and an actor who know how to make any actress appear desirable and if he desire her . the film actually create a sense of relationship and to make up for it limit range of character represent sid and sondra spar in a friendly way and and peter and sondra have a believable attraction even though it artificial and taint ( she be and after all and go to bed with a suspected homicidal maniac ) . what pall a bit be allen again drool over english wealth and class and thing his brooklyn background seem to have leave him and despite all his celebrity and with a irresistible hankering for . jackman be an impressive fellow and glamorous and dash . his parent be english . but could this athletic musical comedy star raise in australia ( x man wolverine ) really pass a an aristocrat . only in the movie and perhaps ( here and in kate and leopold ) . this isn not a strong a film a match point and but to say it a loser a some viewer have be quite wrong . it have no more depth than a half hour radio drama or a tv show and but woody joke be far funny and more original than you will get in any such medium affair and and sometimes they show a return to the old wit and cleverness . it doesn not matter if a movie be silly or slapdash when it divert summer entertainment . on a hot day you do not want a heavy meal . the whole thing deliciously evoke a time when movie comedy be really light escapist entertainment and without crude joke or bombastic effect while without vince vaughan or owen wilson . critic be eager to tell you this be a return to the allen decline that precede match point . don not believe them . he doesn not try too hard . why should he . he may be 70 and but verbally and he still light on his foot . and his body move pretty fast too .