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Bookmark this pageLeatherheads (2008)
Director: George Clooney
Synopsis
George Clooney sets his sport-themed latest film in the Roaring Twenties, when football afficionados struggled to generate interest in their beloved game of thuggery.
Movie review
From Time Out London
Ah, how we miss the days of screwball comedy, when romance lived or died depending on the bite of your banter. Most attempts to resurrect the genre fall flat, yet hope springs eternal: if anybody were capable of pulling off this Lazarus act, it’d be George Clooney, the guy with the old-school movie star looks and respect for old Hollywood? The fact that Clooney comes close with his anarchic American football farce only makes this well-intended throwback all the more frustrating. The movie gets lots of things right, yet it fumbles key facets so badly that you simply can’t christen it the gridiron version of ‘His Girl Friday’.To his credit, the director-star evokes the early era of pro football with panache, capturing the moment when the game went from a shyster’s paradise to a sanctioned industry. Clooney also knows how to channel the Gable-Cooper-McCrea charm like a champ. It’s the dizzy dame in the love triangle who gums up the works. Playing a Hildy Johnson-style reporter, Renée Zellweger can’t reach screwball speed: she’s no Miriam Hopkins, much less Barbara Stanwyck or Carole Lombard. It’s a tall order but when Zellweger tries to attain motormouth velocity, the pace falls three beats behind and everyone else scrambles to regain lost ground. In another comedy, she’d be a weak link. For this fast-talking team effort, she is almost the kiss of death.
Author: David Fear
Time Out London Issue 1964: April 10 – 16, 2008
User reviews of this film
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- john said...
- Posted on Nov 04 2008 11:15 love it
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- Hamish said...
- Posted on Apr 21 2008 01:49 I didn't like this film at all.
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- george clooney said...
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Posted on Apr 19 2008 17:58
i quite liked making this film, please leave me alone!
i have msn. - Report as inappropriate
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- usman khawaja said...
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Posted on Apr 14 2008 17:40
clooneys got an empty head
its impossible to imagine clooney doing this after micheal clayton and syriana.he always had a weakness for vintage hollywood -GOOD GERMAN was his tribute to CASABLANCA ,and it worked partially ,but this is too dumbheaded to work at any level and its meant to be multi-dimensional too.god help us poor souls .
it borrows shamelessly from HIGH SOCIETY,PHILADELPHIA STORY,SOME LIKE IT HOT ,SABRINA And multiple old goldies to amalgamate a vile concoction with modern sport classics like the worthy COSTNER CLASSICS-FIELD OF DREAMS and BULL DURHAM ,needless to say it falls flat on its face ,its ambition almost reduces you to tears and the comedy becomes a pathetic tragedy .
at times when renee indulged in her cynical comments ,i almost thought she equalled hilary clinton in her almost self-destructively fatal criticism of senator obama ,she plays a shrewish chicago tribune journalist ,was this a sequel to CHICAGO,I GUESS NOT-but then why was everyone trying to look like cary grant and lombard ,and all they got was egg on their face in the end ,the plot was non -existent as a yankee war hero confesses to being a dumbhead ,nothing new about that as we know they shoot more friends then foes -he is also a baseball champ,no wonder as they are all dumbheads too ,only difference is here they are called leatherheads -clooney could not have suggested a better title for this dumbhead of a movie -the rest is too complicated to see or describe-its easier to miss this dumb sports epic then watch it
the scene in the trenches says it all -taking the audience for a ride or retaining any left overs of intelligence from your own head ,its anybodys guess.
renee is good but she is no grace kelly or kate hepburn,much less marilyn monroe and clooney has a persona which works better off screen then on it ,he has age catching up as a withered old playboy , and his once handsome face is wrinkled and unworthy of playing a young romantic lead ,mr micheal clayton is what fits him now and renee needs and deserves witty scripts like chicago which had similar larger then life satire pieces but had the intelligence and style to deliver it too,
this is as empty as a scarecrows brains and thats an undestatement .
good german was a classic compared to this ,this is a sic joke - Report as inappropriate
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- mike said...
- Posted on Apr 13 2008 15:14 The sparse audience should have been an indication of what we were to expect with this dire George Clooney directed period romcom. Other than the pleasing sepia visual effects, the single dimensional central characters plodded through the thin storyline unable to lift our mood above the "yes I'm faintly amused, but isnt this old tosh going on a bit?" level.Nobody was convinced or even cared less that George,playing a faded football quaterback, was completely unsuited to the feckless investigative reporter played by Zelwegger. Barely a titter was to be heard from of any section of the auditorium at any point ,who like myself,appeared to have lost the will to live. Oh,I forgot to mention the unforgivable continuety gaffes. Although i am keen supporter of dear George, especially after the excellent Syriana and Michael Clayton thrillers, I urge you dear readers, not to waste your hard earned money on this shallow tripe.It would only encourage the poor fellow to labour under the illusion that this dull effort was worth repeating with another incomprehensible american sport related "comedy". Or did I just nod off at a critical moment in the plot? Unfortunately I did'nt!
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- Sexy Bitch said...
- Posted on Apr 13 2008 12:13 This Was Flippin Amazing Gottah See It!, Im Teliing Yuu Now!,, Whos Got Msn??
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- bill said...
- Posted on Apr 12 2008 17:53 Orite but that George Clooney wat a fox!!!!!!!
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- eiahuorawejhdbf said...
- Posted on Apr 11 2008 09:40 tht was brilliant!!
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Cast & crew
Director: George Clooney
Cast: George Clooney, Renée Zellweger, John Krasinski, Stephen Root, Wayne Duvall, Jonathan Pryce, Jack Thompson, Max Casella, Marian Seldes full cast
Rated: PG
Duration: 114 mins
UK Release: Sep 5 2008
US Release: Apr 4 2008
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