What's it about? -- An American student journalist, Sondra Pranski (Scarlett Johansson), gets the scoop of the century from the spectre of a deceased journo (Ian McShane). With the aid of third-rate magician and fellow-American-in-London, Sid Waterman aka. Splendini (Woody Allen), she attempts to find out whether the amiable and handsome aristocrat, Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman), is the man really responsible for a spate of murders known as the Tarot Card killings.Who's in it? -- Johannson and Jackman are the Hollywood A-listers to look out for and they do make a very watchable pair. Woody Allen, who wrote and directed this film, also co-stars (with plenty of screen-time) as a befuddled and doddering septuagenarian. I can't help thinking that he's merely being himself rather than acting per se.
Why you should/shouldn't watch it -- I've seen the perpetually gorgeous Johansson in a couple of other films and she is a very talented actress. Pensive young women, with expressive eyes, displaying a silent maturity far beyond her youthful years -- these roles are her forte. As a bumbling, neurotic, geeky, novice journalist who goes about like she's Sherlock Holmes, Johansson seemed like a square peg in a round hole. Though her performance started out rather awkward and affected initially, it thankfully grew from strength to strength as the film moved along.
Story-wise, the plot is paper-thin and the mystery which was to be solved, didn't seem mysterious at all. Even Jackman's talents as a character actor is grossly under-utilized. However, what made the film really work for me was the witty script, and the delicious one-liners that Woody Allen had written for himself (he got almost all the best lines). It's a good thing that he and Johansson did had some kind of chemistry together (like father-and-daughter but not quite) because the film would have fallen completely flat if they didn't, seeing how we see so much of them throughout the film.
In a nutshell -- Critics have been pretty harsh on this film; most consider it a weak mish-mash of ideas from past Woody Allen films, and some are of the opinion that Johansson and Jackman, have delivered their most uninspired performances to date. Frankly, I've never seen Allen's other works (except the reasonably-good Matchpoint last year) and therefore, did not expect anything too much from this renowned and respected writer-director. Nevertheless, even if the story sucked, I was still bowled over by the entertaining banter between Allen and Johansson's characters.
my ratings -- 3.5/5 stars!!
