Review: ‘Leatherheads’

Travis:

I like sports, I really do. I like football, its lots of fun to watch … its exciting. I’m not a “huge fan” of football (my heart belongs to baseball), but I have no problems watching a good game of pigskin. What I really like, and this is my nostalgic side showing, is the early days of our American sports. One of my favorite films is Eight Men Out, how it offers a glimpse into a legendary world of a sport that survives, but really no longer exists in its purest form. This “was” the reason I found myself so drawn to Leatherheads once I first saw the trailers. I figured a healthy dose of what the early days of football were all about was in store … I was “almost” entirely wrong.

Leatherheads is George Clooney’s third outing as a director. In my opinion, it is also his least successful. On one level, the movie fails at establishing any believable or credible merit as being a historically accurate portrayal of the second best American sport; on another level, it is moderately successful as a luke warm to average romantic comedy. I understand and accept the purpose for romantic plots being woven into films that revolve around altogether unrelated subjects, but I feel the scales are tipped catastrophically in favor of the romance in the film. What appeared at first to be a potentially well-made sports film ultimately ends up being a romantic comedy, a date film, loosely gift-wrapped in the translucent exterior of a silly little game called football.

Humor does save this film, especially scenes featuring George Clooney and Renee Zellweger verbally teeing off on each other with sharp dialogue and loads of sarcasm to boot. However, outside of these vaudevillian-style moments of Abbott and Costello influenced comical routines, the humor as well as the sports action that the “sport-nuts” would hope for leaves them severely wanting. The pace is often just a tad on the slow side and character development, even amidst the male and female leads, is virtually non-existent.

George Clooney, as I am no stranger to point out, is the typical sarcastic sharp-tongued George Clooney we know, this time wearing his Clooney football player costume. Zellweger actually plays like a female clone of Clooney … funny, but a bit weird as well. Also somewhat disturbing is her rather aged appearance. I’m not sure if its her true nature or if it was an intentional move to make her appear slightly more aged than one would expect, but I found it somewhat distracting. Maybe it was just me? There are some scenes of the game being played, but nothing special to speak of. Unfortunately, I feel the sport itself merely plays the part of jester in the court of Clooney and Leatherheads could possibly earn a rank amongst the worst sports films ever made. Hey, but its funny … right?

(2 out of 5)

Zac:

George Clooney’s latest directorial effort is a pretty entertaining affair, if you know what to expect going in. And what should you expect you might ask? The movie is a throwback homage to the screwball comedies of yesteryear and does an excellent job of capturing the spirit and fun of those films.
Set in the 20’s where college football was king to pro football’s washed up game and presentation, George Clooney play’s a lifer of the league, Dodge Connelly, who attempts to revitalize the all but failed league by signing college super star and war hero Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski) to play for the Duluth Bulldogs. This is all accompanied by a love triangle surrounding the two fore mentioned males and the out of her element reporter Lexie Littleton (Renà ©e Zellweger) trying to get the real story about Carter’s war story.
The football is a secondary element to the movie, but the scenes are a lot of fun with Clooney having a blast running trick plays and acting silly all over the field. The cast of supporting characters are also fun and have a number of nice little bit jokes and acts through out. Stephen Root is the stand out of the cast, playing the “reporter” of the team and is consistently funny every time he is on screen.
The film itself works most of the time, with a bit of dragging here and there, but nothing that ruins the experience. Clooney does a fine job directing with a couple of nice single takes and gives us a nice depiction of the era as well. Clooney’s acting is also great as he relishes in the screwball role that you can tell he loves playing. Krasinski is the worst of the three leads, but does a good job of not just playing Jim from the Office, and creates a sympathetic and likable character that stands on his own. Zellweger is having fun as well, though doesn’t pull off the gag with spades like she did in Down With Love. Jonathan Pryce does a good job as well playing the closest thing to a villain in the film as Carter’s money grubbing agent. The film also does an admirable job of showing the turn of the tide in the pro football league, but it comes off as a bit awkward at times as you ponder whether it was actually this big of a mess or not while in transition.
In the end, Leatherheads achieves what it sets out to be, a screwball comedy that is a throwback to the likes of these films of the past. It might drag and be a bit bloated in a couple areas, but Clooney is just a joy to watch and makes every scene with him on the screen worth seeing. If you are a fan of Clooney, go and check this out. Football fans might come away disappointed, as will any of those people that don’t know what this film is trying to be. But, if you go in with the knowledge of what the film is, there is definitely an enjoyable product here.

(3.5 out of 5)

[rating: 3/5]