Leatherheads (2008)

I heard somewhere that the target audience for this movie was 50-80 year olds and I'm not surprised as it is a complete throwback to a different era when people behaved very differently and slapstick movies like this were popular. And for one this reviewer really enjoyed it. I know I will be in the minority, but so what.Plot In A Paragraph: In 1925. Dodge Connolly (George Clooney) a charming football hero, is determined to guide his team to the top. But after the players lose their sponsor and the entire league faces certain collapse, Dodge convinces a college football star to join his team. Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski) America's golden-boy war hero who single- handedly forced multiple German soldiers to surrender in WWI, Carter is good on the field too, reporter Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger) believes he is too good to be true, and aims to prove it. However she finds herself drawn to both men and the two teammates start to become off-field rivals. Clooney seems really at home in movies set in a bygone era (see "O Brother Were Art Thou" and appears to be having a lot of fun here. Zellweger has a certain charm and Krasinski more than holds his own against two superior actors.I'm not sure about the hate aimed at this movie, I think the people who hate on it, clearly didn't understand it. And that is saying something as its not a complicated movie. I found it well directed, charming, funny and an enjoyable way to spend a rainy afternoon.

It's a film about grown men in tights and headgear, I can go with that. I see no reason to go so hysterically negative on the film like a bunch of reviewers on this board have. It's a fun, escapist flick, and if you take that approach it's entertaining enough. The repartee between Clooney and Zellweger may not be up to that of Cary Grant and Roz Russell in "His Girl Friday", but they do have a few good moments, the best probably when they meet for the first time. The backdrop of the 1920's and the origins of pro football combine for a bit of quirkiness, as Clooney gets some mileage out of playing the kind of character he portrayed in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". The odd thing that intrigued me had to do with Dodge (Clooney) and Carter (John Krasisnki) trading at least a dozen head punches between them when they called each other out on the football field, and neither of them had a mark on their face afterwards. Yet in the bar scene when Dodge recognizes his old buddy Eddie, there's a quick cutaway during the fight, and when the camera comes back to Eddie, he has a cut on his nose and lip. Where the film let me down was when they mentioned football plays like pig in a poke, chasing the cattail and a Crusty Bob - I sure would like to know what those were. Also, the bulldog could have used more screen time.

Congratulations George Clooney. You've captured the 1920s era in a delightful period piece. The script is witty and there's several exchanges between the main characters that evoke memories of the 'golden era' of cinema. Even some of the scene setups are taken straight from the classics - the scene in the railway car with Clooney and Zellwegger taking turns opening and closing their drapes still works after all those years.The football scenes are played for laughs. You have to love a movie that starts its opening scene with a cow acting as interested spectator of a football game.There are some that argue that Clooney tried addressing too many themes int he same film. And there are others who argue that the plot is threadbare. I don't see how these two polar opposite extremes can exist in the same movie. And now that I've seen it for myself I'm glad I did.9/10

Like a lot of people, I never bothered with this film when it came out in the cinemas because of the negative reviews that it got. Likewsie when it came to DVD it sat at the bottom end of my rental list waiting for me to want to watch it. Eventually I did and initially I thought that the reviews had been unfairly harsh because the film seemed like it was going to be a light and sparky sports period piece that captures the screwball comedies of years gone by. This is how it starts but unfortunately it is not how it continues. It is not like, at some point the film suddenly gets "bad" (it doesn't) but more that it doesn't quite have the sparkle or life that the trimmings all suggest that it will.In terms of capturing the period, it does a great job – or at least it does a great job of continuing the nostalgic idea of the period. It does this with a cool jazz soundtrack, good costumes and the suggestion of the snappy dialogue that the screwball movies are known for. I say suggestion because of the places where the film doesn't have the zing that it needed is in the script. It does have its moments though and it is quite fun at times but mostly it feels like it is just falling short of where it should be. It has a couple of things that don't help this either. Firstly it is too long, maybe not for the plot (it doesn't "drag" per se) but certainly for the light tone. Secondly, the romance aspect of the plot doesn't really work, which is partly down to the casting of Zellweger.Where Clooney fits the bill as a "too-cute by half" square-jawed matinée star, Zellweger cannot convincingly deliver her lines in a way that works. I think of Jennifer Jason Leigh in Hudsucker Proxy – she did an impression of an actress in a screwball comedy that was pretty good and looking at that shows up how ill-suited Zellweger is. I know people dislike her on principle but I am not one of them, I just thought she was pretty poor here. Krasinski is good in his role even if, to be frank, he didn't do anything that suggested he has more than the range of characterisation that he has already shown on The Office – and that should be of concern to his "people" since he will soon need to breakout of that show as it cannot run forever. The supporting cast has plenty of interesting and recognisable faces who do solid work.Leatherheads is not a terrible comedy as some have suggested and it should not be criticised for being inconsequential or light. Sadly though it is not frothy, sparky or fun enough to be the film that it was clearly intended to be. OK there are specific issues with aspects of the plot and some (well, one) bit of casting but generally this bigger picture problem is what limits it to be an "OK" film but no better than that.