Movie Review: Leatherheads

B-

Set in the midst of the roaring twenties when depression was slowly approaching, and Superbowl Sunday tradition was a few decades into the future, George Clooney’s new sports comedy ‘Leatherheads’ takes a shot at resurrecting the long lost genre of screwball comedies in an effort that shows plenty of solid devotion with a couple first downs, but fumbles a few too many times along the drive to take this one to the barn.

Clooney plays Dodge Connolly, a football hero who will go to any lengths to get national approval for his new sport, but fails miserably after losing money for his team. By recruiting a young college star and national war hero, played by John Krsinski, Connolly slowly begins to rebuild his phenomenon into a national obsession, much to the dismay of a nosy journalist (Renee Zellweger) who suspects a little too much glory in the life story of this new player.

The visual layout of the respected era in the film is brought out to a pretty good level, and it’s not too hard to relate to the social functions of the people in the film; it actually gets a little sad when the neediness that plagued the early years of football comes out in a scene where Clooney’s home team can’t even afford to provide a game ball after having their one and only pigskin stolen, which is certainly not the only thing they will lose to financial trouble before the final buzzer.

Whether director, lead actor, or both, George Clooney never fails to provide his own personal kicks to a film with his name on it, and ‘Leatherheads’ certainly leaves a “Clooney” influence on the audience, even if it’s kind of humorous to see a man with grey hair follow up a legal thriller (‘Michael Clayton’) by putting on a helmet (if you really want to call it that) and pads.

It may not necessarily be a setback to all audiences, but Clooney and his crew really misled viewers with the advertising of this film. Trailers and TV spots made ‘Leatherheads’ out to be something along the lines of ‘The Longest Yard,’ only eighty years in the past, or a football version of ‘Eight Men Out,’ but as soon as the uncanny love triangle involving the three leads began to play into the main plot, the whole thing started to feel like ‘Mystery Alaska’ on the gridiron. Clooney’s efforts to honor the first real use of a lemon shaped ball are easily respectable for an occasional director, but the concluding result won’t have you standing up and cheering when the final whistle blows (which could seem like a really long wait at certain points). Maybe they come up just one yard short at best, but I’ll leave that one to you guys.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 4 2008. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry