REEL CRITICS:

There are two kinds of people on the planet: those who get Woody Allen’s sense of humor and those who don’t. I confess I am one of those people who laugh at Woody Allen’s stupid jokes and silly comedy routines.

His newest film, “Scoop,” dips into the characters and plots of his previous films. Recycling is inevitable, since Allen has written and directed more than 30 films. Last year’s “Match Point,” along with “Manhattan Murder Mystery” and “Broadway Danny Rose,” etc., get reworked, tweaked and reassembled into a comedy that includes poking fun at the River Styx.

Interchanging characters and scenarios from his own film library, Allen conjures up a tale of murder, magic and neurosis among the English upper crust and working class. Wasn’t that Woody’s last movie? Yes and no.

“Match Point” did not have a ghost, a journalist or a magician. Nor did it have Allen’s old-school sense of humor.

A serial murderer has Londoners on edge. The journalist, Sondra (Scarlett Johansson), acting on a tip, hatches a plan to catch the Tarot Card Killer. She cajoles Splendini, the magician, into to helping her.

Posing as daughter and father and daughter, they befriend the suspect, the handsome aristocrat Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman of “X-Men”). But instead of gathering incriminating evidence against Peter, Sondra falls in love with him. Splendini comes to her rescue, sensing she may be in danger.

It’s a far-fetched plot, with the characters and situations leaning toward the comical. And that is how Allen approaches the story.

The comedy opens at a funeral, with the deceased person’s friends drinking in a pub, telling tall tales about the dearly departed. “Scoop” is like one of those tall tales, told by someone who’s so tipsy that they get their stories mixed up.

For instance, Allen plays a second-rate magician, the type of act he represented as a talent agent in “Broadway Danny Rose.” Instead of a killer on the loose in Manhattan, the action takes place overseas. “Match Point” featured Johansson as an American whose life maybe in danger; in “Scoop” … well, that aspect remains the same.

What is new in “Scoop” are Allen and Johansson acting together. It’s a good match. Like Diane Keaton and Mia Farrow, Johansson embodies Allen’s flighty female characterization, but in adifferent ways.

Instead of being an intellectual who is ditzy and neurotic, Johansson is a sexy, neurotic ditz who does not have sex with Allen.

Sondra and Splendini may be silly characters in general; however, when they appear in a scene together, on screen they are funny. They’ve got chemistry — the kind found in the old black-and-white comedies before color or Ted Turner came along.

“Scoop” is not the best, or worst, of Allen’s movies. However, it is one of the funnier summer movies for adults, at least if you have ever laughed at one of Allen’s jokes.