Leatherheads
Leatherheads
Film review by: Witney Seibold
Oh for goodness’ sake, why doesn’t George Clooney just cast himself in a biopic of Cary Grant, and get it over with? When he’s in full-on gregarious-charm-mode, and has his usual well-combed hair, he so closely resembles Grant, that it’s easy to assume they might even be related. And when he’s in a frothy rom-com period piece like “Leatherheads,” the similarities only multiply. Clooney’s third directorial outing is not as good as some of Grant’s rom-com greats, but it was nearly as charming, equally light, and (dare I say) just as deftly directed. It was much better than I expected.
“Leatherheads” examines the true origins of organized American football, when it formed as a goofier version of rugby following The Great War, and evolved into a money-laden national obsession with newly-invented rules by the mid-1920s. Clooney plays “Dodge” Connelly, the head of the Duluth Bulldogs, one of the few organized football teams in existence. In the early days of The Bulldogs, football was a lot more like a Globetrotters’ game, where people played dirty, cheated in creative ways, and freely injured on another. Sadly, his team falls apart. A few years later, the nation’s interest in the sport begins to wax again when war-hero football superstar Carter Rutherford (John Krasnski), and Dodge re-emerges to convince an eager British investor (Jonathan Pryce) to get behind the Bulldogs again.
And, in the room at all times, is plucky reporter Lexie Littleton (Renée Zellweger) who is there to write a puff piece on Carter, but is secretly trying to debunk his dubious war heroism; Carter may not be as much of a hero as people think. Dodge and Carter begin to come to blows over Lexie in an I-saw-her-first-style argument, and Lexie is constantly trying to maintain her credibility as a female in a man’s world.
Eventually Carter trades teams, a federal football commission is formed, backstabbings occur, and the game of football forever becomes bigger and less fun. But y’know, all in a light and chipper kinda way.
I love to hear origin stories, especially of things whose origins I had never previously considered. How did football become so damned bloated in this country? Why is every single major sporting event plastered with advertisements, and bogged down with obscure complicated rules? It is all just a game right? Well, “Leatherheads” examines, with fun and romance, just how “activity” becomes “game” becomes “sport” becomes “sponsored national entertainment.”
Also, Zellweger, who is usually only tolerable about half of the time, manages to pull real humanity out of her “His Girl Friday” role. The fact that she is aging (and hence, maturing as a performer) probably helps. Give her another decade or so, and she may prove to be a great actress.
