Film Gecko

Guest Review: "Leatherheads"

by Jane Boursaw on April 4th, 2008

David Kindervater writes a great sports blog called Every Morning Quarterback, and graciously agreed to let me post his review for Leatherheads. Thanks, David!

© 2008 Universal Studios

Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL 

The year is 2008 and pro football is the most popular sport in America. Tell that to the 1920s, and you would get a look of disbelief. There were no JumboTron scoreboards. No FieldTurf. No cheerleaders. No multimillion-dollar paychecks. No staggering endorsements. And definitely no personal conduct policy. Not even close. Pro football was played by rough and tumble types whose only reason for participation was their love of the game. Or to find a good reason to get into a fight. They were WWI vets, farmers and coal miners in their real lives; drinking, swearing, smoking, fighting wild men with nicknames like Hardleg, Stump and Bug.

© 2008 Universal Studios

I was invited to a screening of the film Leatherheads this week, and I walked away smiling and thoroughly entertained. Starring Academy Award winners George Clooney (who directed and also helped write) and Renée Zellweger, plus John Krasinski (The Office), Leatherheads is a quick-witted, romantic, screwball comedy depicting the beginnings of America’s pro football league in 1925.

Written by Sports Illustrated reporters Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly (and George Clooney, as I already mentioned), the dialogue is sharp and witty. It’s a throwback to the great old romantic comedies where the story is compelling and the characters full of personality. I loved the way Renée (Lexie Littleton), George (Dodge Connolly) and John (Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford) go at it without sounding over-rehearsed. It’s very natural. And very funny.

In the 1920s, college football was king, but that’s where it ended. After school, you went out and got a decent, respectable job. You didn’t play pro football unless you were a thug. Well, the Duluth Bulldogs were full of thugs. And when their league was on the verge of extinction, aging football star Dodge put it on himself to try and legitimize the organization and guide his team from bar brawls to packed stadiums.

Princeton football star/war hero/golden-boy Carter is his proposed savior. And Lexie is the savvy, sexy, sophisticated Chicago Tribune cub-journalist trying to figure the whole thing out, coyly smitten while caught in a love triangle with both men. Eventually, Dodge and Carter “put ‘em up” to settle the matter old school. Love and football have a surprisingly similar playbook.
© 2008 Universal Studios

The film stays true to the ’20s throughout. I found myself wrapped up in the authenticity of the presentation as much as I was with the dialogue. On the field, the plays, formations and stances, as well as how the game was played — who to block and how to hold the football — were dead-on. The free-for-all nature of the game in the 1920s made for a brutal experience for players of that generation. The field had the same dimensions, but the philosophy and the rules were very different.

George Clooney proves to be as much of a football historian as he is a filmmaker in Leatherheads. Swamps of mud, scratchy woolen uniforms, the advertisements lining the stadium, even the extras serving as fans in the stands were properly costumed and had their hair cut in 1920s styles. Off the field, it was clothing and fabrics from the era. And vintage products and graphics. One example — the muted tones, old mahogany furniture and even the wall murals providing the perfect backdrop to Lexie’s entrance in a knockout crimson-red dress.

I loved this movie. Leatherheads probably isn’t going to win an Oscar or set any box office records. But it does succeed in delivering a good, old fashioned love story amidst great actors, clever verbiage and lots of mud. It opens nationwide today. (LeatherheadsMovie.com, PG-13, 1 hour 54 minutes)

Share This

Related Stories

• Giveaway: "Leatherheads" Swag
• Box Office: April 11-13, 2008
• Box Office: April 4 - 6, 2008
• New in Theaters: April 4, 2008
• “For Your Consideration” Trailer

POSTED IN: Celebrity Pictures, Comedy, Now Playing, Personalities, Posters & Production Stills, Romance, Sports