• |
  • |
  • |
  • |
Go

Leatherheads, 2008

Leatherheads

English

USA, Germany

Rating:6.1
jinni

Profile of Leatherheads

The mood of Leatherheads is witty, sentimental, and feel good. The plot centers around ambition, rivalry, and a sports team. It features screwball humor. Leatherheads is a comedy, romance, and period movie. In approach, it is realistic. It takes place, at least partly, in a small town. Leatherheads is set in Minnesota and Chicago. It happens in the 1910s and in the 1920s. Note that it includes profanity.

Summary of Leatherheads

From his casual charm to his cleft chin, George Clooney has frequently drawn comparisons to an actor of another age: Cary Grant. With his third directorial effort, the Oscar winner pays homage to the style of films that helped make Grant famous, such as BRINGING UP BABY and HIS GIRL FRIDAY. In 1925, when LEATHERHEADS takes place, professional football is a joke, especially when compared to its more respected college cousin. Teams across the country are folding, and player Dodge Connelly (Clooney) will do anything to keep his own team, the Duluth Bulldogs, from folding. The enterprising (read: scheming) Dodge steals Princeton star and war hero Carter Ruthford (John Krasinski, THE OFFICE) from his school, and soon the Bulldogs are winning, but it's the game of football that is the real champion as fans pack the stadiums. Meanwhile, reporter Lexie Littleton (Renée Zellweger) begins investigating Rutherford's past, thanks to a tip from one of the star's old war buddies that he may not be all he seems. The pre-regulation football is dirty, but it's far cleaner than the action when Dodge and Carter vie for Lexie's affections.

From the classic Universal logo that opens the film, Clooney firmly sets his film in the sepia-toned past. His lightning-fast dialogue is certainly reminiscent of the repartee between Grant and costars such as Katharine Hepburn and Rosalind Russell. But as much as he owes to the screwball comedies of the 1930s and '40s, he also is mining the same vein that his frequent collaborators, the Coen Brothers, did in films such as THE HUDSUCKER PROXY and INTOLERABLE CRUELTY. Clooney's previous directorial efforts--CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND and GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK--were also both stylish films set in the past, but LEATHERHEADS is a more fun, mainstream work.

Details

Language: English
Country: USA, Germany
Release date: 24 March 2008
Runtime: 114 min

Cast and Crew

Renée Zellweger as Lexie Littleton in Leatherheads
Renée Zellweger

as Lexie Littleton

John Krasinski as Carter Rutherford in Leatherheads
John Krasinski

as Carter Rutherford

Photos

Leatherheads (2008)
Leatherheads (2008)
Leatherheads (2008)
Leatherheads (2008)
Leatherheads (2008)
Leatherheads (2008)
Leatherheads (2008)
Leatherheads (2008)
Leatherheads (2008)
Leatherheads (2008)

Clips

Leatherheads
Leatherheads: Official Trailer
Leatherheads
Leatherheads: Official Trailer
Leatherheads
Leatherheads: The proposal
Leatherheads
Leatherheads: Dodge and Carter fight

Critics Reviews

Rolling Stone
Leatherheads is most on its game when it's in the game, and in the zone of Clooney's no-bull affection for the faces of his actors.
USA Today
More amiable than witty and relying heavily on the likability and charm of its lead actors, Leatherheads scores more points as a retro romantic comedy than a football saga.

Users Reviews

Gave me the rare experience of switching between squirming in my seat and checking the time during the film. It had one good laugh. The script was not very funny, did not move well, had no balance. The film could have ended at any point in the last...
This film isn't Clooney's best work, but he does go pretty far to carry this screwball comedy. If you're a fan of Clooney, you'll probably like this film. If not, you may want to look elsewhere.
Likely to see
Not for me

Jinni is best for now in Firefox, Internet Explorer 7 and 8, and Chrome

Part of the page Copyright © Muze | New Releases by Tribune Media Services.

Copyright 2010 Jinni Inc.
jinni message message message
jinni
jinni

smart offbeat funny

In: movies

Copy and paste this link into an email or instant message:

Send this page by email