Scoop

When Woody Allen made a film set in London a couple of years ago, it was a big deal - for a number of reasons. Woody was leaving his familiar milieu of New York. It was said that he had been invigorated by the challenge of a new setting. He began to work with an actress - Scarlett Johansson - who was to become his muse in his next few films. The result, Match Point, became something of a topic of debate; was it vintage Allen or the latest in a line of not quite up to his earlier standards? As far as The Knowledge is concerned, it's a deeply flawed piece of work - the acting is stilted at times, English aristocrats speak (unconvincingly) the dialogue of uptown New Yorkers, the London on show is tourist town and let us not even get started on the Ewan Bremner and James Nesbitt police officer roles.

And yet despite those, Match Point created a certain mood; Jonathan Rhys Meyer has a definite presence as the protagonist, the plot is successful in that the climax and its dénouement is devastating and shocking, and, for all his faults, Allen is a filmmaker with a unique eye, a distinctive viewpoint which he could bring to bear, that meant this was his London.

The film found an audience, had a respectable, if not brilliant, critical response and Allen enjoyed the city, the people, found the weather clement. He chose to make another film in London, also starring Johansson. What follows is - to me, at least - staggering. The finished version of Scoop was apparently so dreadful that it didn't receive distribution in any cinemas in the United Kingdom. Later it didn't even get a DVD release. This is the work of a major director, admittedly one who has seen better times, who has just had, by his standards, a success. Scoop came out in 2006. Films that came out that year which got distribution and are available on DVD include the remakes of Last Holiday, The Pink Panther, and The Wicker Man, as well as the 'comedies', Date Movie, Scary Movie 4, and Beerfest. Well, Scoop must be a real stinker!

But very few people from the UK have had a chance to make up their own minds about it - until tonight! Because suddenly, Scoop has appeared in the TV schedules, on BBC2 at 10.45. I have no illusions. Indeed I suspect it's awful. Even so, as I say, staggering. I'll let you know my thoughts tomorrow.