Leatherheads
In his third time out as director, George Clooney harkens back to the screwball comedy of the ’30s and ’40s with a story set in the ’20s. After such offbeat projects as 2002’s underrated “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” (where he worked from Charlie Kaufman’s screenplay of Chuck Barris’ quirky memoir) and 2005’s Oscar-nominated “Good Night, and Good Luck” (using McCarthy-era censorship of the news to satire modern times), should anybody really be surprised? No, nor should anyone be put off- working from a sports-savvy screenplay by “Sports Illustrated” writers Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, the screwball dialogue isn’t quite as sharp as you’d like for the romantic triangle to comes along, but the real subject isn’t the human love story, but the love story between players and the football they play.
At the heart of the story is Clooney’s Dodge Connolly, an old-timer playing early professional football, which hasn’t exactly hit in popularity like the college game has. There’s no money for the teams, the fields are barely adequate for a pee-wee league, and if the home team can’t produce a ball, they forfeit. Times are tough, and Connolly’s Duluth Bulldogs are feeling the pinch. But Dodge won’t go down without a fight. He has a plan- steal away college football pretty boy Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford (John Krasinski) from the collegiate ranks to play for the Bulldogs, putting fans in the stands and credibility into the game. His agent (the delightfully greedy Jonathan Pryce) is game for a big payday, and Dodge appeals to the young man’s passion for the game he’s so good at. Things seem right in line for all involved; as is always the case, though, a woman throws things for a loop…and this time, not just romantically- Lexi Littleton (Renee Zellweger) is a hot button reporter looking to get the scoop of The Bullet’s heroics during WWI. Leave it to a dame to mess things up… 🙂
Clooney knows all about that from films as varied as the “Ocean” movies, “Out of Sight,” even “Solaris.” But he still puts a new spin on his swagger with a rough a weathered front that comes with age and the feeling that time is passing you by, especially when the newly-appointed pro football commissioner starts instituting rules into the rugged, no-holds-barred contests the Bulldogs play. Football’s a dirty game meant to be played that way. So is love, and there’s plenty of that when Dodge and Lexi lock horns- Carter throws Dodge for a loss by the way Lexi warms up to him during their interview time. Zellweger, an Oscar-winner who knows a little something about spitfires of the female variety (with her roles in “The Whole Wide World,” “Chicago” and “Cold Mountain” as examples), is just the right dame to throw these fellas for a loop- smart, sexy, and quick-witted enough to see the game Dodge is playing when he comes to sit next to her for the first time. Krasinski adds a little all-American charm to the proceedings as he and Dodge not only battle it out on the field, but for time in Lexi’s bedroom. With a smart, old-timey score by Randy Newman and a vivid sense of time and place, Clooney doesn’t just make things work out for himself onscreen- he and his creative team behind the camera aren’t afraid to go for it on fourth down. You relish seeing them come out ahead by throwing some trickery into the way things play out.
