A disappointing effort from director George Clooney, obviously needing to take note of how a romantic comedy should be made, as it certainly shouldn’t have been this way.
Leatherheads was mismatched and unfunny in almost every sense of the word which was a shame as the cast list was a good one including Renée Zellweger and American Office star John Krasinski.
Leatherheads is set against the backdrop of 1920s American pro football, before big money and the introduction or rules changed and in some peoples mind ruined the game. Clooney plays Jimmy ‘Dodge’ Connelly a football player whose only way to bring the game back to the people is by signing star player and ex war hero Carter Rutherford to his team, the Duluth Bulldogs.
The introduction of sexy reporter Lexie Littleton (Zellweger) adds little or no spice to the proceedings as Dodge and Carter battle in out for her affections in a manner of slapstick duels.
Miss Littleton has her own agenda throughout the film as she suspects that the handsome, charming and charismatic Carter may be hiding one or two honest truths of which turn out to be humorous. Jonathan Pryce as Carter’s slick sports agent is probably one of the saving graces of the film and there are a number of good scenes with him wheeling and dealing throughout showcasing his true acting talent.
I really wanted to enjoy this film but it gave me no cause to, the weak script and at times screwball plot was about effective as a hail mary pass to nobody!
View the trailer
Rating:
(1.5/5)
Visit the IMDb page for Leatherheads
DVD Extras: Audio Commentary With George Clooney, Director and Grant Heslov, Producer; Deleted Scenes; Featurette: George Clooney: A Leatherheaded Prankster; Visual Effects Sequence; No Pads, No Fear: Creating the Rowdy Football Scenes; Footballs’ Beginning: The Making Of Leatherheads.
Blu-ray Extras: Commentary by George Clooney and Grant Heslov.
Please feel free to comment on this film, I would love to know what you think and I will do my best to respond!
I knew this film would be pants.
I’m taking it off my LoveFilm.
Surely if it was as bad as your review suggests, 2 1/2 stars was too generous?
I’d classify that as average, but the write-up suggests this was much worse.
There were one or two funny moments, not enough to save it, and as an American football fan the setting and back drop were good to. Just a shame the storyline was terrible! Still, upon your advice I have re-looked at the rating