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Buy This Item Scoop by Universal Studios  Available from Amazon  $15.99  on 10-4-2008     Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman star in this hilariously twisted tale of murder and mystery. When an inquisitive college journalist (Johansson) stumbles upon new clues to a string of murders, her investigation leads directly to a handsome businessman (Jackman), who draws her in with his mysterious charm. Could a whirlwind romance with the subject of her search also become the most dangerous scoop of a lifetime? Experience the laughs in this witty new comedy that will have you guessing until the very end. Reader Reviews Frankly, for me Woody Allen had become as pleasure long past his sell by date. However, I happened to catch this movie when flipping around and watched the rest of it and then caught the whole film at a later viewing. I liked it! No, it isn't a great film, but it is a delightful light entertainment. Scarlett Johansson plays Sondra Pransky, a young, somewhat ditzy but earnest reporter for her college newspaper. She is in London visiting a wealth upper crust friend and staying with her family. We also learn that she has (as Woody Allen's character notes later) a problem with promiscuity. For example, when trying to get an interview with a big time movie producer who has no intention of telling her anything, all she comes away with is a hangover and an embarrassing story of being outwitted. We also get to see a barge load of souls headed to the land of the departed engaging in the kind of idle conversation you might expect from the newly dead. A secretary tells a reporter that she knows who the Tarot Card Killer is. The reporter, Joe Strombel (Ian McShane) asks her how she would know that. She says that she noticed something about her boss's cufflinks and told someone about it over the phone, but she had hear a click on the line and suspected someone was listening. She notes that she was dead by that afternoon and suspected poison. Her boss is the millionaire son of a Lord, Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman) and Strombel is determined to not let such a story pass and slips off the barge to swim back towards the land of the living. While attending a magic show by "The Great Splendini", Sondra gets selected to enter the "dematerializer" so she will disappear and then reappear as her molecules are agitated. While she is in the box, Strombel materializes and tells her that he knows she is a reporter and gives her the gist of the story before he is taken back. Sondra is confused, but does a web search of the key elements, goes back to tell the rightly skeptical Splendini (Woody Allen) and wants to get back in his box. Splendini lets her do it, but notes that he is really just Sid Waterman and he built the "dematerializer" and it is just plywood. Nothing happens while she is in the box, but after she steps out Strombel appears in a way that she and Sid can see and hear. Sid wants no part of it, but is drawn in. Sondra is convinced of Lyman's guilt and Sid is equally convinced of his innocence. The rest of the story is how Sid and Sondra try to determine what is real and what is false about the story. Strombel makes a couple more short appearances to help a bit, but Sondra is also falling for the handsome and sensitive Peter Lyman and no longer believes he is the bad guy while Sid has flipped to becoming convinced of his guild. Who is right, who is wrong, and how the story ends you should watch this charming little tale to find out. The dialogue has some with, charm, and the plot has a couple of nice twists along the way. Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

Scoop Available from Amazon Price: $15.99 Updated on 10-4-2008.

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