Woody Allen's SCOOP is Funny and Fun

I have been planning to see it. The cast is strong and lately I have not agreed with anything critics have said. They trashed Pirates and I LOVED it. It is just pure fun and leaves you longing for the next film. I did not like Lady in the Water. Clerks II was on par with my expectations. Going to see Miami Vice this week I think

I was hoping Miami Vice would be good, but reviewers I read said it was dark, mindlessly violent and badly written. So I will skip it. If you like it, and remember, let me know. A very pleasant art film that may have left many cities is Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont. And, of course, the two outstanding docs, An Inconvenient Truth and Who Killed the Electric Car are must-viewing for anyone with an IQ over 100.

I recently watched The Fastest Indian, and LOVED it!! I give it 5 stars. It is based on a true life story and you have got to check it out. It is out on DVD.

Lisa,
On your recommendation I just ordered it on my Netflix. Thanks for the tip.

The standard for me in Allen movies is "Sleeper" and "Bananas". If "Scoop" is even in the ballpark of these, I will give it a look.

I get the giggles just thinking about "Sleeper". Gawd, that was a funny, funny movie.

I don't think his recent stuff is nearly as good as early Allen.

I saw Match Point in theaters recently and absolutely loved it. I felt it to be atypical of the movies that are out there right...which I guess is very characteristic of Woody Allen. It was unpredictable and mysterious. I am extremely excited to see Scoop, hopefully, this weekend! Thanks for the review!

Thanks for the review.

Is Woody dating Scarlett or, does she have a daughter he covets?
Principles over Personalities.

Everyone has their favorites, but to me the two funniest Woody Allen movies--by far--are Take the Money and Run and Bananas. If you missed either of these classics (or either of Mel Brooks' three funniest--the Producers, Young Frankenstein or Blazing Saddles) go rent them now and thank me later.

E.B.,
If you get a chance, rent the fascinating documentary Wild Man Blues. It covers a tour of Europe by Woody's New Orleans jazz band. In it, you see has his wife, then about 22, makes all his adult decisions for him and guides him into seeing and doing what he misses. For instance, at one point she tells him that he hasn't spoken to one new member of the band in the first two weeks of the tour and that he's unnecessarily giving that guy a complex. There are a few cute lines in the film, plus some good music, but the insights into his personality are truly fascinating and the final sequence--when we meet his obnoxious parents--is mind-blowing. Woody's dad mentions that he wishes Woody had become a pharmacist instead.

Thank you, Alan. I think I'll start with the soundtrack...it sounds like he's as complicated as his image makes him appear, which I'm not so sure I want to spend an evening being 'entertained' by this information.

But, really, thank you. Yours was a thoughtful reply to the snide remark I made on the fly, (which I would delete if I weren't such an archival purist).

Arielle,
Nice to hear from you again, after a long absence. I recall that you were my first or second Gather "friend" when I first appeared here. Hope you are well and happy and that you enjoy Scoop.

E.B.
Woody Allen's work is amazingly inconsistent. I love his good films (Bananas, Take the Money and Run, Curse of the Jade Scorpion, What's Up Tiger Lily, Bullets Over Broadway) and dislike his bad ones (Anything Else, Hollywood Ending, Small Time Crooks, Deconstructing Harry, Shadows & Fog, September, Stardust Memories and Interiors). But he is so good when he is good, that I have seen ALL his movies over the past 41 years.

I have also seen all the films of fellow genius Mel Brooks, because he is so good when he is good that you suffer through and overlook humorless crap like Life Stinks.

This is great news! It looked promising, but you never can tell.

Match Point was very disappointing for me because it was highly derivative of one of the Crimes and Misdemeanors plots. The only difference is that the 4 plots of C&M involved good things happening to good people, bad things happening to bad people, good things happening to bad people, and bad things happening to good people.
Not only was Match Point part of C&M, but it didn't greatly improve the story that it did follow.

I take your point, Senor Novak, but I liked a lot of things about Match Point. One was that it contained surprises. Another was that it had lots of funny lines (what Woody is best at). The cast was excellent. The Brit locations were fun. And it had a playful quality that many of his worse films liked. It was easily his best box-office hit, probably for many of these reasons.

Critics are usually very hard on Woody these days, because his work of the past 25 years is so much weaker than his masterpieces. (I defy anyone to sit through Bananas or Take the Money and Run without wetting themselves with laughter).