STUDIO: Universal
RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2008
STARRING: George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, John Krasinski, Stephen Root, Keith Loneker, Malcolm Goodwin, Tommy Hinkley
WRITTEN BY: Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly
DIRECTED BY: George Clooney
GENRE: Comedy
RATING: PG-13

Mud-covered guys chase through cow sh*t while a few bored spectators look on. Clearly no one gives a damn about the action on the "field". But for the "athletes", at least it’s enough to keep them in beer money... barely.

The Duluth Bulldogs are one plug away from being pulled, and somebody’s yanking on the cord. It’s up to "Dodge" Connelly to save them, owner, coach and running back of the team. George Clooney steps out from behind the camera to play Connelly, and those crud-covered Cro-mags behind him are the eponymous "Leatherheads" of Clooney’s new movie.

Part His Girl Friday, part It Happened One Night, Leatherheads is a mash-up of 1930’s screwball comedy. It has the charm and wit of the classic genre, only without the authenticity.

The year is 1925. The Duluth Bulldogs is a down-on-their-luck professional football team at a time when college football is all anyone cares about. To save the struggling franchise, Connelly recruits a college star, Carter Rutherford (Krasinski), a World War I vet known for taking multiple German prisoners without ever firing a shot. Due in part to his heroics, Rutherford, or "The Bullet", as he’s known to most, has been filling stadiums coast to coast.

Lexie Littleton, hotshot reporter for the Chicago Tribune, has her doubts about Rutherford’s war-hero story. She covers the team’s road trip, eventually getting caught between the two men as their rivalry spills off the field and into her arms.

Clooney brings wattage and charm to the role of huckster/middle-aged athlete, Dodge Connelly. In doing so, he evokes the charisma and swagger of such icons as Clark Gable and Cary Grant, but wisely avoids slipping into impersonation. As both director and actor, Clooney unquestionably has a keen ear for dialogue of the period. It’s the harmony of writing, acting and attitude that gives the film effervescence vital to the genre.

As Tribune reporter Lexie Littleton, Renee Zellwegger navigates the same lines as Clooney. In her case, the character, rather than her performance, evokes images of Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday (both admired female reporters in a man’s domain). Yet she too avoids impersonation. Though slightly miscast, Zellwegger delivers a fine performance nonetheless. Although Zellweger plays Lexie as smart, pugnacious and charming, she’s hardly irresistible.

In the role of Rutherford the war hero, John Krasinski has said how Clooney had him play it on his front foot, a precise and astute piece of direction that describes not just Krasinski’s performance, but the entire film. The star of TV’s The Office has the Ralph Bellamy role from His Girl Friday; the well-meaning, good-looking candidate for romance; the one any normal red-blooded American girl would want. But in the end, Clooney’s got the devil in his eyes. And Zellwegger, like so many others, can’t resist.

Although the film is enjoyable on a several levels, Leatherheads falters in spots, particularly in a big windup on the field that seems of little consequence, as the rivalry between Clooney and Krasinski is hardly what drives the story.

Strangely Clooney’s film draws from the period but never comes close to feeling “of” the period. Spectacular locations, like the lobby of South Carolina’s historic Calhoun Hotel, and the subterranean pool of The Vance Hotel are luxurious to look at, but feel preserved (as if they were museums), free of the bustle and wear of everyday life.

Photography by Newton Thomas Sigel and production design by Jim Bissell give the film a sumptuousness unbefitting the genre. Ultimately, Leatherheads is more pastiche than it is the real McCoy. Despite its faults, Leatherheads is funny, smart, original, and another fine notch in the belt of the director who seems well on his way to becoming a classic American filmmaker.