Hey there. Thanks for checking out our Leatherheads review.
It’s been said that George Clooney is the last true movie star. It’s hard to argue with that statement. Clooney embodies all the charisma, charm, swagger and glamour of the old time Hollywood movie stars. He is the face of what the industry needs more of. In a modern industry filled with one hit wonder, pretty face of the moment yet completely hollow personalities, George Clooney still brings that feeling of wonder back to the word “Hollywood” (which is a word more associated with being a heartless corporate industry). He embodies the IDEA of Hollywood, and maybe even the IDEAL of Hollywood.
Get a movie together with Clooney that happens to be a light comedy, add academy award winner Renee Zellweger, and a guy with a potentially very hot career, John Krasinski, to the mix and you’ve got something that will catch my attention if nothing else. So is Leatherheads worth your while? Sure, but not good enough to be something you’ll be thinking about next week.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for Leatherheads looks like this: “A romantic comedy set against the backdrop of America’s nascent pro-football league in 1925. Dodge Connolly, a charming, brash football hero, is determined to guide his team from bar brawls to packed stadiums. But after the players lose their sponsor and the entire league faces certain collapse, Dodge convinces a college football star to join his ragtag ranks. The captain hopes his latest move will help the struggling sport finally capture the country’s attention. Welcome to the team Carter Rutherford, America’s favorite son. A golden-boy war hero who single-handedly forced multiple German soldiers to surrender in WWI, Carter has dashing good looks and unparalleled speed on the field. This new champ is almost too good to be true, and Lexie Littleton aims to prove that’s the case. A cub journalist playing in the big leagues, Lexie is a spitfire newswoman who suspects there are holes in Carter’s war story. But while she digs, the two teammates start to become serious off-field rivals for her fickle affections. As the new game of pro-football becomes less like the freewheeling sport he knew and loved, Dodge must both fight to keep his guys together and to get the girl of his dreams.”
THE GOOD
One of the things you can instantly tell the film was going for was not only to be set in the “old days”, to not only look like an old style Hollywood film… but they actually wrote and shot the film to feel like an old style Hollywood film. You feel like you could have been watching Jimmy Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn up there instead of a modern day cast. The dialog and exchanges had that old Hollywood and classic feel to it that you just can’t help but be won over and charmed by.
I’m still not 100% sold on John Krasinski as a potential movie star, but I will say this… he adapted and fit in perfectly with both the style and substance of the film. It really looked like he must have spent several late nights at the bar with Clooney getting tips and instruction, because the man pulled his roll off. Never too serious and yet never allowing himself to spiral into slapstick either. He was much better than I thought he would be.
Renee Zellweger is one hell of an actress, and really, she was PERFECTLY cast for this film. I wouldn’t be surprised if she studied Katharine Hepburn in “Adam’s Rib” as she played a strong spitfire opposite Spencer Tracy. As a matter of fact Zellweger’s performance reminded me of a lot of Hepburn’s fiery roles and also fit the mood of the film perfectly.
George Clooney was… well… George Clooney. This is a perfect kind of film for him and he effortlessly caries the movie the whole run time.
THE BAD
There is one giant glaring weakness in Leatherheads that just can’t be ignored. The movie is a comedy in the old Hollywood style. Well, they pulled off the Old Hollywood Style part extremely well… unfortunately they did do as good of a job with the whole “comedy” part. Don’t get me wrong, the film didn’t come off as “stupid” as many miss comedies do… it’s just that the laughs weren’t there. Oh there were a good number of “grins” and a few decent chuckles along the way, but sorrily lacks enough laugh out loud moments that define solid comedies. The movie was cute, charming and all those other nice thigns, but as a comedy it failed at the most important thing… COMEDY.
OVERALL
In general, Leatherheads is a fine movie with a terrific feel that makes you reminisce about some of those old classic 50’s Hollywood movies you’ve seen. Both charming and entertaining, Leatherheads sadly misses the mark on the comedy aspect of its intended nature which leaves you feeling a bit wanting once the end credits start to roll. I still recomend this film and appreciated it for what it was… but it also fails to live up to its great potential. Overall I give Leatherheads a 7 out of 10.
the word I would use is “charming”, this movie was charming.
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It was Okay….
I cannot comment on the movie because I would be terribly biased since I worked on the movie for 3 weeks while they filmed in Charlotte but I wanted to add that Blake Clark deserves a thumbs up for his role. Everyone of the cast members was a treat to work with, inparticular Mr Clark who sat with us during lunch breaks on a daily basis treating us like one of the gang telling stories and jokes galore. And for some of the previous posters, Renee never came on set one time without a bright smile on her face. A very nice and smart lady. A lady in every respect. Go enjoy the movie if you haven’t already!
This is one of the funnier comedies this year. Clooney & Krasinski are hilarious together and Zellweger was good as well. Clooney’s directing skills are seen much in this movie.
If there was any problems with this movie, it came with the other teammates. I wish we could’ve gotten more stories from them but then again it’s just a minor problem.
But ‘Leatherheads’ is a good old-fashiones screwball comedy and you will definitely have a great time with this movie.
For a hilarious video review check this link out: http://www.spill.com/movie-review/Leatherheads/361870
wow..those poor guys,many people talked about this when we chat online on tall dating site___Tallmingle.com___where has many humor guys and fashion girls,even hot models.
I had heard that this movie had flopped on its opening weekend. For some reason I felt depressed. I could say that the American public has lower tastes than me, but I think that would be unfair. I have also seen “21”, which continued to be number one at the box office. It was okay, but it didn’t exactly rock my world. On the other hand, “LEATHERHEADS” has turned out to be the umpteenth movie that I really enjoyed, but end up flopping at the box office over the past few years. Either my taste in movies is declining, the American public’s tastes are declining . . . or my tastes just do not match to those of everyone else, anymore. But why am I depressed over this? I shouldn’t be.
Wow great post Randy. I actually want to see this now.
I do know that football was created to get high school aged kids ready to join the military….
The newbie to being in a lead role, Krasinski, does a great job in the way he conveys his confidence, his role as a football star, and as a war hero. Clooney, well need I say more? Having to play rough football with the younger guys and work on strategies for winning each game, he also shows his ability to work on a strategy to attempt to win-over Renee, the newspaper reporter. It was tough for “Dodge” to try to gain affection from the much younger “Lexie”, because he was competing over her against the war-hero and College superstar “Carter”. Renee was excellent in playing her role as kind of a sassy, but very attractive newspaper reporter starting to cover football games. She hung in there with the guys despite the occasional jokes directed at her during those games.
It’s PG-13 so it’s fun for the whole family – just a little cursing, no blood or gore that I remember. It was scripted to be just like a Screwball/Romantic Comedy from the 1940’s with the time period being 20 years earlier. So it’s like watching a 1920’s screenplay using 1940’s techniques. So, don’t expect any special computerized effects, bone rattling acoustics, or alien creatures and space travel!
Now with that intro, I can say that it was really fun to watch, with Clooney, Zellweger, and Krasinski being quite entertaining. The movie gives you a humorous feel for what the early days of pro football were like. It starts with College football being the most exciting sport, drawing large crowds and filling stadiums with up to 40,000 fans. Back then after College the players almost always left the sport and went on to start their careers in whatever their education geared them for. But, there were a few stragglers that wanted to keep playing football, and they did – to much, much smaller crowds, and much less enthusiasm. The pay and scheduling was as unpredictable as the weather. And – most importantly they had very few rules, so a lot of stunts were used to get the ball into the endzone. Many people got injured in those days, in fact one of the statistics was the number of athletes that died during a given year – because the equipment and rules were not good. Sure, leather helmets were a little protection – maybe only against the most severe of blows to the head. Technology had not really been focused on the sport, so the rest of the gear they wore was not very protective either. A few people like Dodge Connelly (Clooney) liked playing the sport beyond College, and wanted it legitimized as a profession, so he pursues this, and eventually more rules are imposed on the game to make it safer and more humane. The romantic struggle between the two football players over Lexie Littleton (Zellweger) is fun to watch the progression of, and also to get a good feel of what romance was like in those days among famous people. These three all had strong personality traits to convey in each of their roles, which involved prowess, honesty, deception, and a bit of sass.
I highly recommend this movie because it is fun, historical, and gives you a sense of the long struggle to legitimize professional football. It helps to answer the question – how did we really develop this highly popular professional sport of football as we know it today – this game of intensity, physicality, and much strategy.
Zelwigger does look great in person. I stood next to her one time and she had a diamond ring on that was prob worth more than I’ve made in the last 2 years. She’s also very tight as in shape. She looked like she could have beat me in arm wrestling match. She’s hot and she likes to drink!!!
Speaking of the NCAA playoffs, I AM OVERJOYED UNC got eliminated tonight. OVERJOYED!
As for this movie, Clooney alone has my interest piqued, but God, Zellweger looks like she’s sucking lemons all of the time. It’s very odd. She isn’t a real favorite of mine. I did not enjoy her in Chicago. Truth be told, I haven’t liked her in anything since Jerry Maguire.
Kinda bad timing on the release of this film. Its bombing at the BO right now.
I find it kinda stupid that they released this film at the beginning of baseball season and during the NCAA playoffs. Friend of mine said ‘well there’s allways football fans that need there fix’. I said naw there all watching Nascar.
Clooney better start choosing some better roles or we won’t see that much of him. Except at award shows. (Free drinks).