Release Date:
04/04/2008
Directed by: George Clooney
The Skinny: Leatherheads, set in 1925 during football's primitive days (when college ball got more cred than the slapdash so-called "professional" game), is about an aging veteran (George Clooney) who pins the hopes of his struggling team on a handsome war hero rookie (John Krasinski) while simultaneously vying with said rookie for the affections of a sassy reporter (Renée Zellweger).
The Good: As director, Clooney competently apes the Coen Brothers, so the movie has an appropriately old-timey feel. It's just too bad that
The Bad: It looks like a movie that's funny and clever without actually being a movie that's funny or clever. It's not bad, it's just duller than vaudeville slapstick. The "snappy" dialogue isn't as snappy as it thinks it is, and the whole thing just serves to remind you that the Coen Brothers did all of this much, much better in The Hudsucker Proxy.
Why Clooney Shouldn't Direct Clooney: Without Steven Soderbergh around to slap him upside the head, Clooney mugs like a Tex Avery cartoon. Every time Clooney opened his eyes comedically wide in shock or surprise we expected a friggin' "ah-ooooh-ga!" horn.
Theater, DVD, or TNT in Five Years? Wait for TNT. This is the kind of movie you can half watch while waiting for Madden to load.
The Skinny: Leatherheads, set in 1925 during football's primitive days (when college ball got more cred than the slapdash so-called "professional" game), is about an aging veteran (George Clooney) who pins the hopes of his struggling team on a handsome war hero rookie (John Krasinski) while simultaneously vying with said rookie for the affections of a sassy reporter (Renée Zellweger).
The Good: As director, Clooney competently apes the Coen Brothers, so the movie has an appropriately old-timey feel. It's just too bad that
The Bad: It looks like a movie that's funny and clever without actually being a movie that's funny or clever. It's not bad, it's just duller than vaudeville slapstick. The "snappy" dialogue isn't as snappy as it thinks it is, and the whole thing just serves to remind you that the Coen Brothers did all of this much, much better in The Hudsucker Proxy.
Why Clooney Shouldn't Direct Clooney: Without Steven Soderbergh around to slap him upside the head, Clooney mugs like a Tex Avery cartoon. Every time Clooney opened his eyes comedically wide in shock or surprise we expected a friggin' "ah-ooooh-ga!" horn.
Theater, DVD, or TNT in Five Years? Wait for TNT. This is the kind of movie you can half watch while waiting for Madden to load.