Release Date:
09/23/2008
The Skinny: George Clooney tries to mimic the Coen Brothers in this screwball "comedy" about the early days of pro football. Rather than stick to the gridiron, it detours off into a story about a star college player and supposed war hero (John Krasinski
you know, Jim from The Office) being hounded by a reporter (Renée Zellweger, whose face is looking increasingly creepy). As a director, Clooney sure is a great actor.
Reminded Us Of The Hudsucker Proxy, Flags of Our Fathers (weird, right?), those old-timey comedies hated by everyone under the age of 70.
Historical Fact! Krasinski's character Carter Rutherford is based on football legend Red "The Galloping Ghost" Grange, who is credited with giving the NFL its early popularity and legitimacy.
The Good: It's shot really well, and is especially vibrant in HD; the picture-in-picture commentary with Clooney is more entertaining than the movie.
The Bad: The story and most of the jokes fall completely flat; if you're expecting a movie about football you'll be as disappointed as we were; what the hell is up with Zellweger's face?
Worst Music Ever: The songs they include from the '20s are horrible and reminded us of the South Park where Butter's did his tap routine.
Best, and Only, Extra: Thanks to U-Control, a picture-in-picture technology available on Blu-ray discs, you can select featurettes and video commentary with Clooney and producer/actor Grant Heslov while you watch the movie. Usually, we hate this type of crap, but Clooney is hilarious and the few featurettes we watched (one regarding how the actors trained as classic football players) were really good.Also available on regular DVD.
Reminded Us Of The Hudsucker Proxy, Flags of Our Fathers (weird, right?), those old-timey comedies hated by everyone under the age of 70.
Historical Fact! Krasinski's character Carter Rutherford is based on football legend Red "The Galloping Ghost" Grange, who is credited with giving the NFL its early popularity and legitimacy.
The Good: It's shot really well, and is especially vibrant in HD; the picture-in-picture commentary with Clooney is more entertaining than the movie.
The Bad: The story and most of the jokes fall completely flat; if you're expecting a movie about football you'll be as disappointed as we were; what the hell is up with Zellweger's face?
Worst Music Ever: The songs they include from the '20s are horrible and reminded us of the South Park where Butter's did his tap routine.
Best, and Only, Extra: Thanks to U-Control, a picture-in-picture technology available on Blu-ray discs, you can select featurettes and video commentary with Clooney and producer/actor Grant Heslov while you watch the movie. Usually, we hate this type of crap, but Clooney is hilarious and the few featurettes we watched (one regarding how the actors trained as classic football players) were really good.Also available on regular DVD.