Scoop review: Netflix's Prince Andrew drama divides critics

Release time：2024-05-21 22:26:19 Source：Culture Connect news portal

Critics are divided over Netflix's drama Scoop - which recreates Prince Andrew's infamous 'car crash' Newsnight interview in 2019 - with some slamming the drama as 'surface level' while others have praised actors' 'note perfect' performances.

Standout scenes from Billie Piper as plucky booker Sam McAlister, Gillian Anderson as the savvy but sensible presenter Emily Maitlis and Rufus Sewell as the disgraced royal, were revered, with reviewers giving their compliments to the all-star cast.

But some remarked that the film felt like it 'missed the real story' and lacks the 'investigative spirit and sense of paranoia' that the story demands.

The movie aims to capture the tensions behind booking the Duke of York for the programme, where Maitlis discussed Virginia Giuffre's claims that she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times when she was 17 under the orders of Epstein, as well as the tension among the cast during the hour.

The discussion, in which Andrew made a series of claims - including insisting he couldn't have been with Virginia at the time of the alleged encounter because he was dining at a Pizza Express in Woking and that a medical condition left him unable to sweat - has since gained notoriety and is widely acknowledged to have embarrassed the royals.

Critics are divided over Netflix 's drama Scoop - which recreates Prince Andrew's infamous car-crash Newsnight interview in 2019 - with some slamming the drama as 'surface level' while others have praised actors' 'note perfect' performances

The Radio Times's Patrick Cremona only gave Scoop two stars out of five, said that the film 'resembles little more than a functional recap' of the real events.

Writing in the Guardian, Peter Bradshaw - who gave it the same ranking - appeared to agree, slamming the movie as 'a laboriously acted and distinctly self-admiring, self-mythologising drama about the media, the royals and the media royals'.

Elsewhere however, Tim Robey, for the Telegraph, awarded it a five-star rating and delighted in its 'borderline-The-Thick-of-It fashion without going overboard'.

Following the Newsnight broadcast in November 2019 and the furore over Andrew's friendship with Epstein, the Duke stepped down from public life.

The interview was dubbed a 'car crash', with commentators questioning his responses and condemning his unsympathetic tone and lack of remorse over his friendship with the sex offender.

Maitlis has already served as an executive producer of a Channel 4 documentary about the interview.

Another drama about the interview, an Amazon series called A Very Royal Scandal starring Michael Sheen as Andrew and Ruth Wilson as Maitlis, is also in the works.

Scoop will air on Netflix on Friday April 5.

RADIO TIMES

Rating:

Giving the film two stars, Patrick Cremona of Radio Times called it a 'well-executed act of mimicry' which 'feels rather pointless when the actual interview is readily available to watch in full'.

He explained that while Scoop aimed to tell the story of the women who secured the incredible story, the work felt much more focused on Prince Andrew's most bizarre moments during the Newsnight viewing. 

'Scoop does occasionally touch on interesting themes, including the impact of frequent and ongoing cuts to journalism funding and Maitlis's regret over a previous interview with Bill Clinton, but it doesn't exactly probe deep into these issues,' the critic added.

Patrick compared the movie to All the President's Men, which he called the 'gold standard for this kind of quick turnaround journalism film'.

'Almost half a century on from its release, that film still feels urgent, driven by an investigative spirit and sense of paranoia that is sorely lacking from Scoop,' he explained.

'Instead, all the developments here feel inevitable, meaning there is no sense of tension behind the drama - which consequently ensures the film resembles little more than a functional recap.'

THE TELEGRAPH

Rating:

Writing in The Telegraph, film critic Tim Robey gave the Netflix drama a generous five stars out of five, focusing on its all-star cast.

'For all the sensation their interview would cause, this re-enactment grips consistently as a revolving study in personalities – and not just theirs [Prince Andrew and Emily Maitlis],' he penned.

'A watchful, wary Romola Garai is not messing around as the programme's editor, Esme Wren.

'Our real hero, though, is Piper's McAlister – a single mum with a reputation for rocking up late, taking long lunches, and not having much to show for them.'

Tim also applauded Peter Moffat's 'wickedly astute' script, writing that the interview recreation was made with 'forensic rigour'.

THE GUARDIAN 

Rating:

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave Scoop two stars out of five, describing it as 'laboriously acted and distinctly self-admiring, self-mythologising drama about the media, the royals and the media royals'.

The critic said there was one 'spark' in the moment Andrew is shown humiliating a female staff member for mishandling his collection of soft toys.

'It's a flash of black-comic horror and Sewell has something to get his teeth into as an actor,' he said.

'Otherwise, the drama is smothered by its own overwhelming sense of importance.'

THE TIMES

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Hugo Rifkind, for The Times, awarded Scoop a tepid three stars out five - writing that the movie struggles to find a good anchoring story to hold onto.

'The dogged art of the behind-the-scenes interview-booker is indeed neglected and under-rated, even in journalism,' he wrote.

'I'm not sure, though, that it makes great drama.'

He said that while it was interesting to watch a 'broad cosplay of British media, for all its flaws', it didn't feel like the moment was big enough to 'even warrant a drama in the first place'.

EVENING STANDARD

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Writing for the Evening Standard, Melanie McDonagh - who gave Scoop four out of five stars - felt like the only way to watch the nail-biting dramatisation is 'from behind your fingers'.

However, while she was full of praise for the acting performances which resulted in 'beautifully tense' storytelling - particularly Gillian, who played Maitlis with 'eerie exactitude', the movie felt like a 'puff for the BBC'. 

'We're presented with the Corporation in crisis (again) and having to make job cuts – and people's eyes are resting on Sam McAlister (Piper), who doesn't seem at all interested in Brexit and points out home truths about on-message Maitlis,' she said.

'At the end, after Maitlis has duly eviscerated the Prince, the Beeb’s Esme Wren (Romola Garai) declares to acclaim that this is what the Corporation is for… holding the powerful to account. Cheers for fearless news reporting!' 

BBC

Rating:

BBC critic Nicholas Barber praised the acting, but said the film lacked 'a bit of boldness, irreverence, imagination and depth'.

'It's a brisk, well-acted and solidly built newsroom drama, but there is plenty of scope for the Amazon series (A Very Royal Scandal) to be better', he said.

He awarded the film three stars out of five. 

THE INDEPENDENT

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Among those hailing Billie's performance as Sam McAlister was The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey who said the actress offered an 'excellent performance' and rated the movie at three stars.

However, she felt the story lacked a necessary depth and criticism of the events.

Clarisse wrote that Scoop appeared 'uncomfortably smug about a hollow victory'. 

'Virginia Giuffre, the woman who would sue Andrew for sexual assault (the case was eventually settled out of court), is merely a name mentioned in passing conversation,' she added.

THE DAILY MAIL

Rating:

The Daily Mail's Brian Viner gave the film four stars out of five, hailing the 'top-quality cast and a mischievous script'. 

'Scoop boasts a top-quality cast,' he wrote. 'A jowly Rufus Sewell plays Andrew and, if you squint quite a lot, you can just about believe it's him. Maitlis is portrayed by Gillian Anderson as stick-thin, brittle and imperious, which seems about right, marching through the BBC's offices with her pet whippet, intimidating everyone.

'Keeley Hawes is Andrew's mumsy private secretary, Amanda Thirsk. Romola Garai plays the fierce Newsnight editor Esme Wren. And brassy Sam McAlister, the programme's interview booker whose tenacity landed the prize catch, is played, splendidly, by Billie Piper.'

He added: 'Like Netflix's The Crown, director Philip Martin's film deftly mixes historical truths with dramatic licence. But fiction can't compete with fact.

'Scoop is never more electrifying than when it finally arrives at the only part of the story we already know intimately, the interview itself, with all its extraordinary minutiae about Pizza Express in Woking and Andrew's supposed inability to sweat. It is very carefully and convincingly recreated.'

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