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Leatherheads

Coverage by Nobuhiro Hosoki

 

"Leatherheads" is the third directorial stab from George Clooney, who is also starring himself here as an aging football player. This times, he's tackling the birth of professional football, when the audiences were barely enough to cover the costs. Back then, the rules were that if the team left without the ball, the game was forfeited in favor of the opposition.

In this saga of struggle and heartbreak, team leader Dodge Connolly(George Clooney) and his Duluth Bulldogs can't find other teams to play against because of bankruptcies. Soon after going through the depressing process of disbanding his own team, Dodge hatches the idea of how football could be resurrected as a professional sport. So he recruits as his quarterback Carter Rutherford (Jonathan Krasinski), a decorated soldier from the First World War.

At the same time, a newspaper editor named Harvey (Jack Thompson) assigns his ambitious distaff reporter Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger) to follow Carter to exploit a national hero. Obviously, both are attracted to this spunky lady.

From that point forward, this film shifts into a romantic comedy involving a love triangle between Lexie and her football heroes. George Clooney is at his best being a playful and corky handsome man, just as he was in "Intolerable Cruelty."

Throughout, the film pays homage to the great tradition of screwball romantic comedies like "His Girl Friday" or "It Happened One Night." Even though the tone of the film constantly changes, the chemistry and battle of wits between Renee and George might put a smile on your face. The film stays in the game as an amusing, lighthearted look at a rugged, bone-crunching
sport.

Nostalgia buffs will love this film for propelling us back to the early, more innocent days of a sport that has now become a huge behemoth of a marketing extravaganza.

Director - George Clooney
Screenplay - Duncan Brantley
Screenplay - Rick Reilly
Producer - Grant Heslov
Casting Director - Ellen Chenoweth
Production Designer - James Bissell

Cast:Dodge Connolly - George Clooney
Lexie Littleton - Renee Zellweger
Carter Rutherford - John Krasinski
CC Frazier - Jonathan Pryce
Commissioner - Peter Gerety
Harvey - Jack Thompson
Suds - Stephen Root
Coach Ferguson - Wayne Duvall