Movie Review - Scoop (2024)

 

I guess people will make anything out of real events these days, but there does seem to be a surge in more recent events over events that occurred a long time ago. The Royal Family are a fascinating bunch in that many of them try to hold their integrity intact, but for a few members, doing so proves to be an impossible feat. In particular, with one Prince Andrew (played by Rufus Sewell) whose association with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (played by Colin Wells) made headlines just only a few years ago, thanks to that one BBC interview he had on the matter. Then there is Harry and Meghan who want privacy, but seem to not quite understand the concept, along with the Netflix series The Crown that looks like it's trying to paint the Royals in a negative light. But in actuality, it's just a bunch of people trying to do their own version of the real life stories, just like the people that worked on this. Whether you'd much rather watch the real interview or not, do keep in mind that Gillian Anderson of X-Files fame and Billie Piper of Doctor Who fame are in this. If that doesn't entice you to give it a watch, I don't know what will. Anyway, let's take a look:

Starting in 2010, New York based photographer Jae Donnelly (played by Connor Swindells), plots a stake out outside a Manhattan based private home to get an exclusive shot. This eventually leads him in doing a photograph of the Prince and Epstein walking in Central Park after photographing a young girl from the same building just prior. Cut to 2019, the BBC News team is facing cut backs of staff and Newsnight producer Sam McAlister (played by Piper) finds the photograph and tasks herself to secure an interview with the Prince to discuss his association with Epstein, all for the sake of helping the BBC in the ratings.

You know, it was probably for good reason that this is not a BBC production. It could've been, but the fact that they are probably going downhill and their unusual rules, would've probably made this film not as good as it was. Whether you prefer this or the actual interview itself, I will say this does feel very believable. Everything just seems to work out right, the acting is great, the thrills are good and everything leading up to and during the interview, was decent. It was released around the same time as a miniseries for Prime Video also about this interview, so you do have a choice in which version you want to watch. But I think the star power, in this take, works well for the most part. 8/10