Leatherheads: Critic Reviews

55%

MovieWeb: 4 reviews

52%

RottenTomatoes: 160 reviews

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Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly (Top Critic)

42

Reproducing a period-piece screwball comedy for a modern audience turns out to be one playful, self-deprecating wink too many for [Clooney].
Full Review » 4 years ago
A.O. Scott New York Times (Top Critic)

40

Leatherheads labors so strenuously to approximate some of the old screwball spirit of the '30s and '40s that it winds up in traction.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Claudia Puig USA Today (Top Critic)

75

More amiable than witty and relying heavily on the likability and charm of its lead actors, Leatherheads scores more points as a retro romantic comedy than a football saga.
Full Review » 4 years ago
John Anderson Washington Post (Top Critic)

There's a flatness about the whole enterprise -- like drinking champagne, but from an old house slipper.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Wesley Morris Boston Globe (Top Critic)

63

This is an unmade bed of a movie -- and ambiguous to a fault.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Elizabeth Weitzman New York Daily News (Top Critic)

50

It's easy to see what Clooney's going for, but hard to understand the choices he makes.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Joanne Kaufman Wall Street Journal (Top Critic)

There's a jaunty score by Randy Newman, and Clooney, as always, has charm to burn, but here, he's off his game.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Amy Biancolli Houston Chronicle (Top Critic)

63

Everyone's too mannered, and most everything's too slow. Especially for a throwback.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Jim Emerson Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

75

Film fans used to speculate about whether Clooney could become the Cary Grant of our time, and now we know he's our Clark Gable and William Holden and Dean Martin, too.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune (Top Critic)

50

Tragically, Leatherheads is just OK, though the film may well find an audience among those eager for a little diversion, what with the nostalgia factor and the George Clooney factor.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Steven Rea Philadelphia Inquirer (Top Critic)

63

If you have a hankering for old-style Hollywood comedy and romance, and Turner Classic Movies is on a Steve McQueen or John Wayne jag, Leatherheads offers an agreeable substitute.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Colin Covert Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top Critic)

63

Drawing from movies rather than life, Leatherheads often feels like a likable exercise in retro style rather than a film with a compelling reason to exist on its own.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Adam Graham Detroit News (Top Critic)

34

No one's saying George Clooney isn't a dashing fellow. But his charm and affability only go so far in Leatherheads.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Bill Goodykoontz Arizona Republic (Top Critic)

It's the equivalent of a busted play, with the players scrambling in different directions, making any kind of forward progress nearly impossible.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Todd McCarthy Variety (Top Critic)

Aims only to please and proves perfectly amiable, but ultimate effect is one of much energy expended to minimal payoff.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Lou Lumenick New York Post (Top Critic)

63

Leatherheads is far from a touchdown, but you gotta give points to any movie where a character describes its climactic game as a 'muddy snoozefest.'
Full Review » 4 years ago
Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel (Top Critic)

60

If the real NFL had started off this tired, we'd be spending our Sundays watching jai alai.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Peter Howell Toronto Star (Top Critic)

50

Clooney is now at the stage of his life and career where a flash of his playboy grin earns him enough audience goodwill to carry him over rough patches -- and Lord knows, this movie has them.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Liam Lacey Globe and Mail (Top Critic)

50

Leatherheads a comedy of stock setups and kooky digressions in which nothing really comes to a head, and running at close to two hours, it lacks the essential brevity of the form.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Stephanie Zacharek Salon.com (Top Critic)

[Has] a breezy, affable spirit, and its very casualness is something that's extremely rare in mainstream movies these days.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Dana Stevens Slate (Top Critic)

Why does the whole thing feel sloggier than the climactic game, a near-scoreless battle waged in a lake of mud?
Full Review » 4 years ago
James Berardinelli ReelViews (Top Critic)

88

It's an enjoyable diversion.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Kirk Honeycutt Hollywood Reporter (Top Critic)

Disappointing period football comedy laterals too often without a clear goal in mind.
Full Review » 4 years ago
David Germain Associated Press (Top Critic)

The film leaves you longing for a few Hail Mary end-zone passes, while the filmmakers stick to a story that tries to pound it out with a safe, tedious ground game.
Full Review » 4 years ago
Richard Schickel TIME Magazine (Top Critic)

Maybe the film loses a little steam as it rolls along, but it is still puffing and tooting as Clooney and Zellweger ride off into the sunset.
Full Review » 4 years ago