As Woody As Ever
Oey vey! Scoop is not the greatest film of all time. The critics have panned Woody Allen and his latest, London bound, production Scoop.
     It’s some source of amusement to many that Woody can no longer get finance to make movies in New York and now has to get BBC Films to stump up with the cash to make his movies. So what? The BBC is the BBC and doesn’t just come up with cash for anybody.
     No bespectacled pin stripe suits have tapped on my front door with a walking cane in one hand and the BBC check book in the other – and God knows I’ve got talent!
     Woody Allen is not, and has never been, a mainstream commercial filmmaker. He still holds the record for writing and directing (and starring in) the lowest grossing Academy Award Best Picture of all time – Annie Hall (for those who must ask).
     But! He’s been an Oscar nominated screenwriter more times than any other, his directorial nominations have him right up there and he’s had infinitely more acting awards and nominations than some blockbuster stars who get more in one picture than Woody’s been paid in all of his acting roles put together. Then again, it’s only fair to point out Woody only pays actors scale so nobody enriched their bank accounts in a Wood Allen production – what they do enrich is their talent bank. 
     Most poignantly the man is 71 years of age, he has made at least one major motion picture per year for each of the past four decades and knows his craft.
      At a time in life when his peers are whining in Miami or Boca Rattan, he’s still working. He’s got another picture in the can and his 2008 project is well into pre-production. Most everybody else is happy if their 70 year old relatives can get a dump in the can without hitting the sides!
      Woody is still productive and his is not some struggle to be relevant. By his very existence he’s relevant and has nothing to prove.
     He also knows his limitations – far better than those who spend lifetimes searching for the shortcomings of others. First a writer, he’s never claimed to be a great actor with a wide range (then again, how many actors have a big range of characters anyway).
       Is Scoop his greatest achievement? No. Is it a reprise of old ideas and gags? Yes. But they’re his ideas and his gags. And the good gags hold up through the ages. People pay fifteen bucks to see a Woody Allen flick and then bitch and moan because it’s not got enough new material.
    Yet the same kinds of folks spend five hundred bucks on Rolling Stones tickets and bask in the glory of seeing Jagger, Richards et al. sing the same tunes they’ve been belting out for the past forty years. Go figure?
      In Scoop Woody opts out of the romantic lead, instead playing a magician. It’s less of a reprise and more an ode to the craft he features in Oedipus Wrecks and Curse of the Jade Scorpion.
     Scarlett Johannson is the leading lady and Woody’s latest muse. All of his past muses have become annoying as the years roll on, Scarlett may never become annoying – but I’ll reserve that judgment.
     Hugh Jackman plays a suspected serial killer and Scarlett’s love interest. I like Hugh, a lot, of all the Aussies making it big in movies he’s the most Australian (ie: a good bloke who’s not full of himself). Hugh was woody in this film. I don’t mean a neurotic paranoid, I mean his performance was woody. He wasn’t exactly in the lead role and didn’t have any great lines; and he’s not believable as a maniacal killer.
      Maybe Woody could have got more out of Hugh; or maybe Hugh should have given more to Woody.
     Scoop is a triumph, though, because it’s a return to the most productive franchise in cinema history. Woody Allen films are basically all the same and that is the whole point; that is the franchise. Woody takes similar characters with similar personalities and puts them in different situations and he does it well. It’s not for everybody and it never will be; but that’s just fine.