In 1925, when professional football is so unpopular that teams are going out of business, an aging player (George Clooney) tries to save the league by recruiting a star college quarterback/war hero (John Krasinski), unaware that he is under investigation by a feisty female reporter (Renee Zellweger).

CRITIQUE

Leatherheads is one of the most disappointing films I have seen in a while.  It’s not because it’s hugely dreadful, it just that the very appealing cast is completely wasted in a mediocre, uninspired film that rambles along blandly to an underwhelming climax.

And it’s too bad, because the potential is here.  The tale takes place on the backdrop of professional football getting a new legitimacy in 1925, when some star players and some tightened rules made it more palatable for the public.  The casting would seem to work too – George Clooney (who also directs this) as aging football player Dodge, John Krasinski as Princeton quarterback/war hero Carter he recruits, and Renee Zellweger as Lexie Littleton, the reporter who catches both of their eye.

Unfortunately, the actors are really given nothing to play; the characters are one-dimensional and uninteresting throughout.  This superficiality would be worked better if this was a full-on comedy, but the filmmakers haven’t really decided what this is: it’s never really laugh-out-loud funny (despite a few clunky attempts at slapstick thrown in along the way) while it isn’t honestly dramatic either.

It’s also not really about football.  We get no real insight into how in 1925 college football can be so hugely popular and professional football not, while until the very end of the movie there isn’t a game being played that we care about – and even then, the climactic game has no real stakes, and the big final play is just rather eye-rolling.  In fact, one of the ideas here is that the new rules make the game boring, so one of the points of the climactic game is that it’s supposed to be dull, which doesn’t make it any fun watching it in the movie.

But at least the football stuff here is sort of interesting at times.  Unfortunately, it essentially drops out of the film for big chunks, in favor of a really rather dull plot centered on the fact that Carter’s war heroism has largely been exaggerated and whether Lexie will expose it.  But since it doesn’t seem like a big deal, it can’t come close to actually carrying the film.

The love triangle here is also a non-starter.  The actors have largely been relegated to playing types; we don’t really learn the first thing about Clooney’s character, Zellweger (who isn’t aging well) is playing an uninteresting version of the feisty, wisecracking female reporter, and as much as I like Krasinski, he just doesn’t have much range; he seems like Jim from The Office in a football uniform throughout this film.

Clooney knows how to direct; the film has a solid period look, and it feels like a movie throughout.  Unfortunately, it just isn’t a very good one.

THE VIDEO

Leatherheads is presented in 1.85:1.  The picture quality was generally good, capturing a period feel on what likely wasn’t a huge budget.

THE AUDIO

Leatherheads is presented in English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital.  Dialogue, music and sound effects come through clear.  There are English, Spanish and French subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

There is a Commentary by George Clooney and producer Grant Heslov that is a little slow in spots, though they do offer some insight into the filming at times.

There are 8 minutes of Deleted Scenes that aren’t bad, but aren’t really missed.

Football’s Beginnings: The Making of Leatherheads is a fairly-standard 6-minute making-of, in which Clooney and the actors talk about trying to capture the period, screwball feel.

No Pads, No Fear: Creating the Rowdy Football Scenes is a more-interesting 9-minute piece about how they shot the football sequences, difficult for the actors because they didn’t wear much padding back then.

George Clooney: A Leatherheaded Prankster is a 3-minute bit about a muddy prank Clooney pulls on some of the supporting actors.

Visual Sequences is a 5-minute piece that runs some of the original scenes next to the redone special effects footage, mostly adding huge crowd scenes to the football sequences.

FINAL THOUGHTS