Leatherheads

At this point, the hype around George Clooney has reached levels that make you believe he has become a man, a myth, a legend so charismatic and beloved he could heal the sick by laying hands on them. It makes me wish I was George Clooney.

Set in 1925, Clooney stars as Dodge Connelly – the premier player on the Duluth Bulldogs professional football team. At this time in sports history, pro football is not taken as seriously as college football (the NFL doesn’t even exist), so the Bulldogs and other pro teams are on the verge of failure. However, Dodge has a brilliant idea.

To bring attention to the game and his team, Dodge recruits the top college player in the nation, Carter “Bullet” Rutherford (John Krasinski), to take some time off from Princeton and play for the Bulldogs. Bullet also is a war hero, so he is going to bring more attention than ever to pro football, but maybe not the kind he wants.

What is Bullet hiding about his heroism?

Can intrepid reporter Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger) discover the truth?

Is Lexie falling for Dodge or Bullet?

Will Dodge be able to handle the new guy’s fame and adoring fans?

How many questions can I dream up?

Clooney, as director and star, makes Leatherheads into a madcap romp full of laughs and verbal gymnastics, but the movie becomes too serious towards the end. Early on, Leatherheads is a tribute to the kind of 20’s and 30’s movie Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and The Marx Brothers would all be glad to headline. Writers Rick Reilly and Duncan Brantley, along with Clooney, provide dialogue full of biting wit, and the cadences, attitude and tone of a movie from the 20’s, combined with music and photography that makes you feel like you have stepped back in time, in a good way. In addition to a romantic comedy angle that keeps Zellweger involved in the story, Reilly and Brantley also provide an interesting sub-plot about Dodge facing the inevitable battle with getting a bit older as well as giving the character a small tinge of sadness as he watches what he loves change as the next generation rides in and he might be left behind.

With Clooney taking on double duty, you might be worried he would be distracted from one of those jobs. However, he is fantastic wearing both hats. Clooney does a great directing job by capturing the comedy of the football action. We see the facial reactions and physical gaffes within each scene, and even get some funny stuff happening in the background. Then, he is awesome as the lovable rogue with snappy comebacks for everything thrown at Dodge, and makes that changing of the generations story a little more poignant than a vain actor who would never want to admit he could be getting older.

Zellweger seems to come to life as the sassy, smart aleck, tough as nails reporter who can engage in a battle of wits with anyone on the planet. She and Clooney have good chemistry together, even if her delivery isn’t as natural and smooth (but who in the world is as cool, natural and smooth as George Clooney?), and even though she seems to have the same pouty face in most scenes. Krasinksi is very good early on as the All American hero who never fails to smile and always says the right thing. His performance intentionally just about borders on parody of that character, and you can see a bit of a devil in his eyes as he does it, but Krasinski keeps it from getting silly, and just makes you laugh. Towards the end, he is the one who suffers most when the movie slows down.

As we march to what should be a wild and crazy climax, Leatherheads loses some steam as the story gets muddled with Lexie’s pursuit of the truth about Carter, and the fallout from all of that. It sucks the energy and sparkle out of the movie, and leaves the audience wondering when the fun will start again.

Leatherheads is rated PG-13 for brief strong language