Jeux de dupes

You know the phrase "they don't make them like they used too"? Well, George Clooney definitely took that to heart when he decided to direct and act in Leatherheads. This movie hits back to "It Happened One Night" type of slap stick, or at least that's what it reminded me of. To me it seems like George Clooney is trying to be like the next Clark Gable, Renee Zellwegger, don't get me wrong, I love this girl, she's a great actress, but I wasn't too impressed with her performance in Leatherheads. With her and George it seemed like they were trying so hard to make the slap stick work and really forced it, while the jokes are funny, it doesn't click as well as it should like the old time comedies. The problem with this movie is that it doesn't know wither it wants to be a romantic comedy slap stick or how football was born in America type of comedy, so George Clooney misses more than hits.

Set in the 1920's, Jimmy and his football team are in the birth of football. The problem is that they don't win and their sponsors are fed up with their stunts and loosing streaks. So when they drop the football team, Jimmy looks for a job, but fails, but later he comes across college football star, Carter Rutherford. He offers Rutherford to join the team and the sponsors get back into play. Rutherford is also known war hero and reporter, Lexie Littleton is on the case to find out "the truth" that could possible damage Carter's career. But Jimmy is also attracted Lexie and may have to give up the only way to boost the football team's reputation again for Lexie's story.

Would I recommend Leatherheads? I would say that it's worth a matinée, it's a cute movie and has some fun laughs. I loved the scene with Jimmy and Carter who just punch each other in the face and beg not to hit anywhere else because it's their weak spot. Just I think the editing was a little off, some scenes I don't understand why they were not cut in half or were even needed. George Clooney wasn't looking to make a masterpiece, but I think he took this film in the wrong direction and it's not that impressive. It's a decent movie, worth the watch, but it's not something I would buy.

6/10

Just yesterday, my family and I were itching to go to the movie theatre. After my grandfather recommended it to us for being "hilarious slapstick humour", and after seeing some funny previews, we decided to see Leatherheads. Leatherheads, George Clooney's latest movie, dives into the Roaring 20s, early professional football, the Chicago Tribune, and fake war heroes, all in about an hour and 44 minutes. As unappealing and generic as that might sound compared to the average comedy feature, it was actually a quite fun movie, which is to be expected coming from Clooney.

The movie follows the story of the Duluth Bulldogs, a professional American football team, and its most well-known player, Dodge Connelly. Luck is not always on the Bulldogs' side, as can be interpreted from the outcome of the first game you watch them play, but trickery and cheating is. Dodge becomes infamous for cheating almost every game and leading his team to victory because of it. It was okay then, though. There were no rules to American football early on, and cheating was what made the game interesting. That's one of the main themes of the movie.

After the introduction comes Lexie Littleton (played by Renée Zellweger), a quick-witted reporter for the Chicago Tribune who doesn't like her co-workers too much. After calling them "dimwitted" or something similar for the fortieth time, Lexie is assigned by her boss to a story on Carter "The Bullet" Rutherford (played by John Krasinski), a war hero with a more than embellished story. When she is promised the assistant editor's desk if she brings back some dirt on The Bullet and exposes his fake war story, Lexie sets out on quite the adventure, meeting Dodge and the rest of the Bulldogs along the way.

I know that all of this probably sounds generic to the average moviegoer, but it's actually a quite fresh and fun movie. With any other actor and actress at the forefront at the movie, it may have come off as generic and boring, but Clooney and Zellweger have enough chemistry and enough quirks to make the movie fun. There are also some absolutely classic lines and scenes. It's just a fun movie. Don't expect too much depth, because there really isn't any. This movie is more than enough to quench the thirst of any moviegoer who asks for nothing more than an hour and a half of simple humour and slapstick antics.

The historical accuracy is there. Some scenes are featured in a speakeasy, with a female African-American jazz singer performing. Basically everything you see is typical of the time period. Actually, anyone watching the movie might get a little shock when they hear that coffee is only 10 cents a cup at a diner Dodge stops at early on in the movie. However, on the other hand, some major plot areas are not at all historically accurate, especially relating to the football commissioner, since there was no football commissioner for the NFL until 1941. However, this is perhaps looking too deeply into a fun, casual movie.

The main criticism I have of this movie is that some of the scenes just go on too long, especially the punching scene which was featured in the previews. After they punch each other in the face for the tenth time and finish it off with a bad joke from The Bullet, you already are hoping that one of them will bash the other's skull in by accident or something just so that the scene can end. To offset that, however, there were some very quick and humorous scenes, like the scene in which Dodge first meets Lexie in the hotel and tries to hide his face by reading an issue of a women's magazine.

Overall, Leatherheads is worth it for the entertainment value. The story isn't fantastic, but the acting is enough to make up for it, even if you only pay attention to Dodge's witty exchanges with Lexie. If you don't go in expecting too much, you will leave satisfied, refreshed, and entertained, and that's really all the movie aimed for.

Having just seen the movie and read the other comments I felt I had to respond. OK, so the dialogue is a little clunky in places and there is no great emotional journey or powerful moral at the end so accept it for what it is - a nice little movie that passes a couple of hours and leaves you with the feeling that you've been entertained. Why is it that people always expect George Clooney to do powerhouse / classic films?? Maybe he wanted to make this because he liked the story and thought other people would too? The characters are simple as is the story but it never pretends to be anything big. It's a light hearted caper that does nothing the offend the senses or damage the careers of anyone involved. Let it wash over you! My advice? Go see it and make up your own mind, who knows - you might even enjoy it.

I saw an advance screening of Leatherheads at NYU Movies101 last night.

I was so excited when it was announced that this movie was being shown.

I settled in my seat ready to enjoy another great movie that George Clooney directs and acts in.

All during the film, I thought to myself "Is it just me, or is this movie going nowhere?". I was trying SO hard to like it.

Well, it wasn't just me. I was surprised to see about ¾ of the full house of people I saw it with feel the same way, even the hosting professor.

As discussed after the screening, it had Top-Notch Scenic Design, Sound Track (by Randy Newman), Editing, Acting (Renee Zellweger was fabulous), Directing, Costumes, and Cinematography. It did not have a good story, and that is what made it fail. The script was written in the 1980's by two sports writers. Clooney has been carrying it around with him for over 2 decades. I suspect that the script was pretty much left the script alone from its origin.

The concept of the story is great, but the writing was horrible. Maybe George Clooney thought that the concept and grandeur would "carry" the film? It was disappointing to see George Clooney in a movie that did not compliment him in anyway. He does do comedy well, as he did in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". How can you act well with terrible material? George's Directing was great.

"Leatherheads" is a movie of laughs, and feel good fun a period piece of football nostalgia that's held together by it's slapstick comedy and blended well with romance. George Clooney who stars and directs gives a good turn here, yet it seems a little uncommon seeing the superstar in a period comedy piece as he's clearly a better dramatic actor still he scores some points here for his style of shooting and direction of the film.

Set in the 1920's George is 'Dodge' Connelly a football player on the field and a ladies man off it, and this is before the big money and rules changes that took into form for the game. Clooney's team the Duluth Bulldogs are a scrapper bunch at play yet the team is tough and gritty, and off the field George's Dodge character is full of drink and has eyes for a dame. Enter Lexie Littleton(Renee Zellweger)who's an elegant and sexy snap news lady of a reporter as she's a little lady in red from her nifty wardrobe. While the Bulldogs team and other foes have gone bankrupt and many move on to other traits of work like mining and labor, a plan then develops to invest in and start an organized league with the help of a famous recruit for the Bulldogs that being college ivy league stud and apparent war hero Carter Rutherford(John Krasinski). Along the way then the film blends with plenty of slapstick laughs and comic gridiron action from strange and crazy tackles to muddy fields to catchy flirtation one liners and romance that is seen in a chastely and sexy way. And the big surprise is the truth about the apparent battlefield story is revealed.

Overall this isn't a great movie, but it's OK as the slapstick and laughs carry it, so if your expecting a historical serious and dramatic look at the early NFL you want get it here. Though the costumes and uniforms of the classic throwback way of no face mask, no chin gear, nor any rules make you feel just like your back watching a 1920's era game. The chemistry between Clooney and Zellweger is good as Renee is a bright treat to watch even though the laughs are good and the scenes are fun Clooney appears out of place here in a comedy work even though his performance is good, this screwball comedy scores for laughs and is flagged for drama and it's lack of focused attention on the history of the start of the NFL.