Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Leatherheads (2008)

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 04-06-2008, 08:16 PM:

Today at the Regal 15 in Eugene, #8, 35mm Klipsch-O-Rama®. No presentation complaints. Decent attendance for an early matinee, and an older crowd than typical.

Is this a good movie? Beats the hell out of me. I kind of liked it, didn't hate it, but also found it lacking. Renée Zellweger is very good. Nice visual recreation of that era (late 1920s I think).

I dunno. I guess 2.75 out of 5.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-06-2008, 10:08 PM:

quote: David Stambaugh
an older crowd

It's a George Cloooney movie. He attracts the fogies. Therefore if you like George Cloooney, you're old.

Posted by Mike Schindler (Member # 1309) on 04-07-2008, 12:16 AM:

Call me old, but I think George Clooney's the bomb. Which is why I want to know why this movie isn't better.

Clooney has established himself as one of the best actors of recent years, but I'm actually more excited about his work behind the camera. CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK., and his TV show, UNSCRIPTED, are all quite good and quite different. By no means is he locked into one style. He always does whatever the content requires.

LEATHERHEADS is no different. This time around, he has chosen to adopt a Howard Hawksian screwball comedy aesthetic, and it works really well.

But here's the thing. This script was written 15 years ago. Before Clooney was attached, Steven Soderbergh had planned on doing it. So in 15 years with 2 Oscar nominated scribes at the helm, how come no one went, "Hey, you know what? The third act sucks. Let's fix it?"

I thought that this would be the movie to end the quality drought we've been in since CLOVERFIELD. But, no...

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 04-07-2008, 12:20 AM:

I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't personally comment on if I think it's any good.

But at the theater I worked at over the weekend, attendance at "21" beat the crap outta "Leatherheads".

I was chatting with the manager during the last show and 3 "older" couples came out about 40min into the movie and left the theater. One of them said "we should be embarassed to play such a lousy movie."

A few minutes later another couple came out and asked if they could get their money back or at least get a pass to see another movie on another night. (The manager made them happy)

They'd opened "Leatherheads" in their biggest auditorium on Friday and had moved "21" into onto one of the smaller screens. By Sunday, "21" was back on the big screen.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 04-07-2008, 01:42 AM:

quote: Mike Schindler
I thought that this would be the movie to end the quality drought we've been in since CLOVERFIELD. But, no...

Huh? Are you saying that you didn't like Step Up 2 Tha Streets???

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 04-07-2008, 05:13 AM:

I didn't really care for this. By the end I was like, what did I just watch. It was funny in moments, drama in others, good sports shots in others. It didn't really sit with me well, I've given it the weekend and thought about it and just didn't like it. Clooneys good as is everyone else in it. Just the movie didn't flow well, it had no direction from start to finish.

21 was huge this weekend for us as well, averaging over 200+ a show where as Leatherheads was in the "Cine-Capri" and did nothing.

1.5/5 [thumbsup]

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 05-31-2008, 08:47 PM:

The year is 1925 and the unruly game of professional American football is struggling to retain enough sponsorship to keep its head above water as the nation rushes headlong towards the Great Depression. Captain of the Duluth Bulldogs, "Dodge" Connelly (George Clooney) hits on the idea of recruiting star college player and war hero, Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski), to attract larger crowds and thereby greater corporate sponsorship. Meanwhile fiery journo dish, Lexie Littleton (Renée Zellweger), is despatched to expose Carter's war hero status as a sham and finds herself at the centre of a love triangle between Dodge and Carter. Chasing the good ol' days, Dodge gradually becomes alienated from his own creation as a new and dangerous element creeps into American football - government regulation and rules!

There's a duality to the film which is a little unsettling in these modern times; our hero figure (Clooney) champions the old, no-holds-barred days of American football where on-field violence and cheating is commonplace, resisting the new regimented, safety conscious era which will inevitably result in the players losing control over the game. But it's best not to superimpose the values of the present onto the past and just go with the fun. And there's ample fun to be had.

Perennial sports fan, George Clooney is as good as ever, lampooning it up in the tradition of O Brother Where Art Thou. Renée Zellweger provides the perfect counter part to Clooney. Sparking off of each other magnificently, it's a shame the pair don't share more screen time as this is where the real magic of the film lies.

Marking his third directorial effort, Clooney basks every scene in the glow of the golden age of Hollywood and he does it much more effectively and affectionately than the (by contrast) stupendously budgeted Indiana Jones 4. But like Good Night, and Good Luck, there's a crucial element missing which stops it from leaping off the screen and sucking you in completely.

The film is certainly a lot of fun while it lasts and it proves Clooney to be an accomplished director but it's memory soon fades after leaving the auditorium.

7.5 out of 10