Leatherheads

Who: Bill & Melanie
What: Leatherheads
Where: On DVD from Netflix
Why: Melanie wanted to watch it.

Leatherheads tries to be two movies in one: A sports comedy and a romantic comedy. It doesn’t do poorly at either level, but somehow I felt that it should have been better. It certainly boasts some A-list talent.

In the 1920’s, college football was thriving, while pro football was little more than a joke with its loose rules and general disinterest from the general public. Aging player Jimmy “Dodge” Connelly (George Clooney) of the Deluth Bulldogs aims to change the pro’s poor perception by convincing popular college football player-- and alleged World War I hero-- Carter “Bullet” Rutherford (John Krasinski from The Office) to join the Bulldogs. Rutherford’s playing skills begin to bring in spectators and it attracts the interest of Chicago newspaper reporter Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger), who is out to prove that Rutherford’s war heroism is bogus. Soon, Littleton finds herself the object of affection with both Connelly and Rutherford. Who will she choose? And will she end up writing the potential expose of the decade?

Leatherheads was originally developed as a straight sports movie. When Clooney acquired the script, he made numerous changes mostly by adding the romantic comedy aspect. He also became the film’s director and co-producer. Given Clooney’s track record and coming right after his critically praised award-winning Good Night and Good Luck , it would be assumed this would be a wildly successful movie. But it was not. The film garnered mixed reviews and failed at the box office. Perhaps it was Clooney’s attempt at doing a combination sports/romantic comedy, or maybe it was Zellweger’s not-totally-convincing interpretation of a female newspaper reporter in the 1920’s (were there any female reporters during that time, and if so, were they writing about sports?).

Leatherheads is still a mildly entertaining movie and a decent choice when you can’t decide if you want to watch a film with romance or a film about football.