Reviewed by Neil Davey
Stars George Clooney, Renee Zellwegger, John Krasinski, Jonathan Pryce, Stephen Root,
Wayne Duvall, Keith Loneker, Malcolm Goodwin, Matt Bushel | Written by Duncan Brantley & Rick Reilly
UK certification PG | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 109 minutes | Directed by George Clooney
Can George Clooney do any wrong? Sure, Leatherheads, his amiable look at the start of America's professional football league, doesn't hit the same heights as his previous directorial efforts but: a) it's never less than enjoyable; and b) it shows an admirable intention on Clooney's part to try lots of different styles. Anyone would think he'd been hanging out with the Coens or something...
Leatherheads is a mostly well observed screwball comedy mixed with more than a hint of nostalgia for the innocence of the time — it's set in 1925 — and the innocence of the game. It's a blend that generally works although there are a couple of clunky moments where the sentimentality threatens to overpower, the nostalgia feels forced and the screwball air falls flat, and it all becomes a bit The Hudsucker Field of Dreams of Their Own. But the pleasures more than outweigh the intermittent flaws and there's a great chemistry between the leads.
Clooney plays Dodge Connolly, an ageing pro-footballer in a race to see which finishes first: his career or the pro-league. Attendance is down, the Great Depression is looming and teams are folding all across the States. The league needs a miracle and, if Dodge can work the angle, they may just get one. College football is booming thanks in no small part to Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford (Krasinski), a good-looking war hero who seems too good to be true... which is what's piqued Lexie Littleton's curiosity. Lexie (Zellwegger) is an old-fashioned news reporter in the feisty Hepburn / Hollywood fashion, and she senses that the Bullet legend might not be all it's made out to be. So Dodge needs to woo Carter to save the league, Lexie needs to woo Carter to get the truth, and Dodge needs to woo Lexie because that's what happens in these sorts of films.
It's a standard screwball set-up and, when Clooney and Zellwegger are trading flirtatious insults, you could almost believe — and celebrate — that the genre's back. Clooney's confidence with the comedy is obvious but, surprisingly, he seems less assured with the intermittent shifts into nostalgia. The sense of longing, for the innocence of the times and, particularly, the purity of the game before the money came in, is obvious throughout, even as the leads spark and spit, so it jars when the audience is spoonfed these emotions. When you consider how successfully Clooney avoided the obvious heartstrings in the elegant and intelligent Good Night, and Good Luck, you wonder why he appears to have gone for the shoehorn approach here. Never mind, ignore the flaws, enjoy the leads, savour the dialogue – and, overall, notch up another success for the almost infallible Mr Clooney.
EXTRAS Just a few deleted scenes. C'mon, George, surely you can do better than that?