The cast of Leatherheads creates a luring draw for audiences to go and see it. First is director and leading star, George Clooney, a long-lusted-after hunk and previous winner of People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive award. He alone would be enough to lead women everywhere to this movie, but then there is John Krasinski, from NBC's hit sitcom, The Office. The endearing quality he embodies as Jim is what makes fans of The Office love him. This same characteristic is present in Carter Rutherford in Leatherheads; so if you are looking for more of that, you won't be disappointed. Lastly, there is Renee Zellweger, star of some of film's more positively rated romantic comedies. While the film is enjoyable, it doesn't live up to it's A-list potential.
In the film, Dodge Connolly (Clooney) is the star player of the professional football team the Duluth Bulldogs at a time when there are few fans and most teams are going bankrupt due to lack of money. After Connolly's team goes under, he comes up with a scheme to legitimize the game of professional football. He convinces Princeton football star and war hero Rutherford to join his team, thus drastically increasing the popularity of professional football. Zellweger plays journalist Lexie Littleton, whose boss has a source telling him that the story that made Rutherford a war hero was in fact a lie. Her job is to find out the true story. What results is a comical love triangle in which both Rutherford and Connolly end up falling for Littleton.
Zellweger has fantastic chemistry with both Clooney and Krasinski, which greatly adds to the quality of the film. Littleton and Connolly start out with witty verbal sparring, seemingly hating each other. Even under this, however, their underlying attraction to each other is strong. Rutherford and Littleton develop a more sweet rapport. The two seem to enjoy each other's company, as evidenced by their long sessions just sitting and talking to each other. As the two become attached to each other, Littleton begins to struggle with the story she is supposed to be seeking out.
Connolly clearly begins to fall for Littleton and becomes increasingly irritated with Rutherford's way of both honing in on her as well as changing the way the team operates. Rutherford is clearly becoming the dominant figure on the team and is taking the spotlight away from Connolly. The interesting aspect, though, is that although you end up loving Connolly, you cannot hate Rutherford for stealing his thunder. He is simply too likeable of a character. Krasinski does an excellent job of taking this character that could easily come across as pompous and instead making him a humble person. Rutherford, a famous college football player and a war hero, constantly tries to play down everything that people say about him. The way Krasinski plays the part, Rutherford comes across as a sweet and endearing person who simply got stuck in the spotlight. You cannot help but love him, you just happen to love Connolly more.
Leatherheads will also keep you laughing for its entire nearly two-hour running time. It might seem on the long side for a romantic comedy, but the way it uses its humor keeps you very well entertained. During the scenes in which they are playing football, you can count on your typical slapstick-style comedy. This also carries into a hysterical bar fight scene, which is made all the more amusing by the '20s-style music being played by a pianist who at one point joins the fight by smashing a bottle over the head of one of the instigators before going right back to his playing. They also vary the comedy in the other scenes with the witty banter of Littleton and Connolly, which is bright enough to keep its audience engaged.
Another positive aspect of the film is that there are numerous sub-stories. Leatherheads does not focus simply on the premiere of professional football or an intertwined love story. It also has a more sophisticated story of a soldier who is caught in the middle of a publicity stunt and is thus made to look like a hero. So in the middle of the silly slapstick comedy, you also have a very likeable character facing the ruin of his reputation, which adds a level of depth to the story without which it would not have been nearly as good of a film as it is. B
Be the first to comment on this article!