MOVIES > Woody Allen returns to London with minor comedy

What is it about England that makes Woody Allen think of murder? His past two films, shot in England, revolve around murder. Well, murder and Scarlett Johansson, to be accurate. Unlike his crime drama "Match Point," he returns to comedy in "Scoop", a light-hearted if ghostly murder mystery that for all the contemporary English locations feels like a 1930s studio film including a plot that bears little scrutiny. Along with the delectable Johansson, the film offers fun roles for Allen, Hugh Jackman and Ian McShane.

Audiences certainly appreciated the change in scenery and approach Allen took in "Match Point" ($23 million domestic boxoffice). Focus Features should expect more of the same with this amusing if minor work that delivers many of the hallmark Woody Allen pleasures.

Not that one doesn't miss the sharp asides from his best comedies. ("We can walk to the curb from here" or "I have to go now, Duane, because I'm due back on the planet Earth" from "Annie Hall," for instance). There are a few here. One of the best has Allen declare he was born to the Jewish persuasion but later converted to Narcissism. Otherwise, the dialogue is more prattle than zingers.

Allen, long fascinated with encounters with death, imagines that a crack Fleet Street journalist, Joe Strombel (McShane), gets a hot tip from a fellow passenger on a boat ride to the Afterlife. Slipping away from death, he is determined to work the story from beyond the grave.

At this same moment, a third-rate (to be generous) magician named Splendini, who actually is Sid Waterman from Brooklyn (that would be Allen, of course), is performing his act in London. A young American journalism student, Sondra Pransky (Johansson), is plucked from the audience to be placed inside the "De-Materializer." To her astonishment, when the door shuts, Joe's spirit appears to her and quickly fills her in on his big scoop.

This metaphysical event sends Sondra and Sid into the streets of London and surrounding countryside in pursuit of the "Tarot Card Killer." Joe's tip is that the serial killer might be British aristocrat Peter Lyman (Jackman).

Allen plays his stereotypes to the hilt. Sondra is a clever but ditzy American blonde, who immediately falls for the suave charm of her prey. Sid is an old wind-bag, who talks in trite phrases -- "from the bottom of my heart" and "with all due respect" -- and treats everyone he meets as an audience. Peter oozes upper-class allure and glamour with small hints that darkness may lurk beneath this too-smooth exterior.

Meanwhile, the detective team of Waterman and Pransky is unimaginably bad. Their idea of looking for clues is to shuffle through Peter's briefcase. Sure, serial killers always leave major clues in briefcases. Naturally, the two actually do find clues in odd, casual places.

Also their roles switch. At first, Sid is certain they have the wrong man. Peter doesn't act or look like a serial killer. "I'd be very surprised if he killed one person," he declares. (Come to think of it, that's not a bad aside.) Then Sondra, besotted with love, wants to exonerate Peter and it's Sid, egged on by the diaphanous Joe, apparently no longer needing the De-Materializer, who is certain Peter is a killer.

"Scoop" flies by in a snappy, well-paced 96 minutes, but you can't help noticing that Allen is recycling his old movies. Along with the fascination with things metaphysical ("Alice," "The Purple Rose of Cairo," "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion") and the dregs of show business ("Broadway Danny Rose") and Bob Hope-style murder mysteries ("Manhattan Murder Mystery"), there even is the use of a coincidence in which a woman spies her man, supposedly out of town, across a crowded street ("Husbands and Wives"). Nothing wrong with that but these things were often sharper and funnier the first time.

With the aid of accomplished cinematographer Remi Adefarasin and designer Maria Djurkovic, Allen romanticizes London and environs just as he did so many for Manhattan. This is an ideal England with pleasing interiors and gracious exteriors, often gardens or parks, where everyone moves to the sounds of classical music.