SCOOP
Starring: Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell, Billie Piper, Connor Swindells, Keeley Hawes, Romola Garai, Charity Wakefield, Lia Williams, and Richard Goulding
Director: Philip Martin
QUENTIN
For fans of journalism movies, Scoop boasts enough of the typical hallmarks to keep genre fans mildly entertained, even if they ultimately walk away unimpressed and having not learned much. It’s almost too light and breezy, failing to truly capture the tense importance of the moment in the way that films like Frost/Nixon and Spotlight did. There is very little character development, nor are there any bombshell revelations about how it all went down. Newsnight asked for an interview, it was granted…and that’s pretty much it. Maybe it would have resonated more if I was a Brit, but for Americans, there just isn’t much here.
KATIE
Days before Scoop dropped on Netflix, Prince Andrew led the Royal Family into Easter Sunday service, his most recent appearance in a string of high-profile events. Although it feels too soon for a dramatisation of events from 2019, the film is a reminder that the Prince still holds a prominent position in public life. Scoop treats cameras like guns and the interview like a Western stand-off, adding tension to the familiar story. Although it struggles to engage with the seriousness of the crimes, Billie Piper’s performance as Sam McAlister brings some much needed emotional depth to what is a quite matter-of-fact account.
