Let's get it over with: George Clooney is a sexy man. He's got good looks, charm, suave sophistication and tremendous talent to boot.
Unfortunately, those indelible qualities get the ball running but can't help "Leatherheads" during
the end game.
It is the year 1925. Football is a major powerhouse of a sport, with a wide-reaching net of spectacle and awe-but that's college football. Professional football is played on the cow fields of rural states with near-zero rules and ragtag players, including the debonair yet tough Dodge Connolly (Clooney) and his Bulldogs of Duluth, Minn.
To put the team's philosophy in perspective for you, the new addition to the Bulldogs thinks the best idea of blocking his teammates is to punch anyone who comes near-including the referees.
At the same time, Carter "The Bullet" Rutherford (John Krasinski) is the star of Princeton's football team, aiming at a respectable, non-sport career after college. A highly-publicized World War I hero with endorsement deals ranging from toothpaste to cigarettes, Carter's talent attracts the attention of more than just Dodge, who hopes to land the prospect to help legitimize professional football instead of teams folding from bankruptcy.
Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger) is a feisty and ambitious journalist in the male-dominated newsroom of the Chicago Tribune, able to fire barbs more intense than any of her male counterparts can. Lexie's boss assigns her to cover Rutherford's backstory and the possibility that his legendary heroics-an entire German regiment surrendering to him-may not be all that and a bag of chips.
As she further rides along with Dodge, Carter and the boys, tension occurs between the three as both men begin to fall for the spirited appeal of Lexie. At one point, the men lay themselves to fisticuffs (that is language appropriate to the time), only before a punch is thrown, each man asks not to be punched in certain areas of the body-Dodge has a bad knee and achy "hindquarters" while Carter has a rough back and shoulder-which leads Dodge to suggest, "Why don't we just go for the face?"
Clooney expands his directorial efforts (this, his third) into comedy after two dramas, most notably his previous work, the terrific "Good Night, and Good Luck." This is crafted to be a "Philadelphia Story"-style, with Clooney showing he is the heir-apparent to Cary Grant: charming, good-looking and able to do drama, suspense, comedy, etc. Zellweger displays that same zest for female vitality as Katherine Hepburn with a hint of Doris Day. The dialogue they share is both funny and touching.
The film is both a physical comedy and a romantic comedy. With Clooney adding such comic pedigree as Zellweger, Krasinski (NBC's "The Office") and even Stephen Root, he shapes a funny cast with a humorous script co-written by Clooney frequent collaborator, "Ocean's" director Steven Soderbergh. And yet, one problem exists: the film goes beyond the logical conclusion point.
Very similar to last month's "Semi-Pro," "Leatherheads" is a moderately funny sports movie that doesn't quite get held together.
"Leatherheads" does have some strong laughs, don't get me wrong, but when it's 4th down, the game kind of falls apart.
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