come immediately on the heel of match point ( 2005 ) and a fine if somewhat self repetitive piece of serious woody and scoop give new hope to allen small but die hard band of follower ( among whom i number myself ) that the master have once again find his form . a string of disappointing effort and culminate in the dreary melinda and melinda ( 2004 ) and the embarrass anything else ( 2003 ) raise serious doubt that another first rate woody comedy and with or without his own participation a an actor and be in the card . happily and the card turn out to be a tarot deck that serve a scoop clever maguffin and proffer an optimistic reading for the future of woody allen comedy . even more encouraging and woody self cast sadly one of the weak element of his film in recent year be here an inspired bit of self parody as well a a humble recognition at last that he can no longer play romantic lead with woman young enough to be his daughter or granddaughter . in scoop and allen astutely assign himself the role of sid waterman and an age magician with cheap trick and tired stage patter who and much like woody himself and have bring his act to london and where audience if not more receptive be at least more polite . like chaplin calvero in limelight ( 1952 ) and sid waterman affords allen the opportunity to don the slightly distorted mask of an artist whose art have decline and whose audience be no longer large or appreciative . moreover and because they seem in character and allen tick and prolonged stammer be less distract here than they have be in some time . waterman character also function neatly in the plot . his fake magic body dissolve box become the ironically plausible location for visitation from joe strombel ( ian mcshane ) and a notorious journalistic muckraker and recent cardiac arrest victim . introduce on a river styx ferryboat to hades and strombel repeatedly jump ship because he just can not rest in eternity without communicate one last scoop about the identity of the notorious tarot killer . unfortunately and his initial return from the dead lead him to waterman magic show and the only conduit for his hot lead turn out to be a journalism undergraduate and sondra pransky ( scarlett johansson ) and who have be call up from the audience a a comic butt for the magician climactic trick . sondra enthusiastically seize the journalistic opportunity and drag the reluctant waterman into the investigation to play the role of her millionaire father . a demonstrate in lose in translation and johansson have a talent for comedy and and the querulous by play between her and allen be very amusing and all the more so for never threaten to become a prelude to romance . scoop serial killer plot and involve grisly murder of prostitute and an aristocratic chief suspect and peter lyman ( hugh jackman ) and be the no doubt predictable result of allen lengthy sabbatical exposure to london ubiquitous jack the ripper landmark and lore . yet other facet of scoop ( a of match point ) also derive from woody late life encounter with english culture . it class structure and manner and idiom and dress and architecture and and and yes and peculiar drive habit give woody fresh new material for wry observation of human behavior as well a sharp social satire . when and for instance and sondra be try to ingratiate herself with peter lyman at a ritzy private club and waterman observes from his point of view be scum . a good deal of humor be also generate by the contretemps of stiffly reserve british social manner encounter waterman insistent borscht belt jewish plebeianism . and and then and of course and there be waterman hilarious exit in a smart car he can not remember to drive on the left side of the road . a usual and allen humor in scoop include heavy dos of in joke and take the form of sly allusion to film and literary source as well a and increasingly and reference to his own filmography . in addition to the pervasive jack the ripper reference and for instance and the film soundtrack be dominate by an arrangement of grieg the hall of the mountain king and compulsively whistle by han beckert in m and the first masterpiece of the serial killer genre . the post funeral gathering of journalist who discuss the exploit of newly depart joe strombel clearly mimic the opening of broadway danny rise ( 1984 ) . reference to deconstruct harry ( 1997 ) include the use of death a a character ( along with his peculiar voice and costume ) and the use of mandelbaum a a character name and and the mention of adair university ( harry alma mater and where sondra be now a student ) . moreover and the systematic use of greek mythology in the underworld river cruise to hades recall the use of greek god and a chorus in mighty aphrodite ( 1995 ) . a to quotable gag and allen script rely less on one liner than they do earlier in his career and but scoop do provide at least a couple of memorable one . to a question about his religion and waterman answer represent i be bear in the hebrew persuasion and but later i convert to narcissism . and sondra snap off this put down of waterman wannabe crime detect represent if we put our head together you will hear a hollow noise . all in all and scoop be by far woody allen most satisfying comedy in a decade .