Movie review: Leatherheads

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Hollywood's favorite star, George Clooney, has proven that he can do it all impeccably. His performances are close to perfection (and if we renounce considering perfection as an intangible ideal, yes, his performances were perfect), no matter if we are talking about his role in the hit TV series "ER" as Dr. Ross, or when he played shrewd Michael Clayton in the eponymous movie or when he approached movie directing. Leatherheads gives him the opportunity to repeat history and deliver a flawless performance, both as a leading actor and as the director of the movie. It is not the first time for Clooney to be a movie director, he has done it before remarkably in 2002's "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and 2005's "Good night, And Good Luck," and "Leatherheads" makes no exception. The movie, which open today is theatres, is a screwball comedy that tackles several themes, smoothly combing sports, love and the influence of money. There are clues suggesting that "Leatherheads" is something else from the very beginning, such as the fact that it was released two months after the football season had come to an end, when it is almost a factual tradition that spring is the time for baseball movies, while football movies open in the fall. Leatherheads is set in the 1920s, in a time when America was recovering from World War I and football had not yet been tainted by money. Those were the years when professional football was born, those were the times that delimitate the pristine, passionate game from the money-driven sport. Clooney plays Dodge Connolly, a witty quarterback in his mid-40s who is determined to save his team, the Duluth Bulldogs, from extinction. The team loses its sponsor and the players start to re-orientate their careers.' This is until Dodge comes up with an idea that is meant to not only save the team, but also to draw thousands of supporters to their matches: was hero and Princeton star quarterback Carter "the Bullet" Rutherford is brought to their team. Rutherford would bring the stamina and coherence to the Bulldogs, but also his fame and recognition as a war hero, providing not only a better performance in the game, but also a name for the Bulldogs. On leave from The office, "John Kransinski is the perfect match for Rutherford. But Rutherford does not come alone; involuntarily he draws Chicago Tribune reporter Lexie Littleton (played by Renee Zellweger) who goes to great lengths to discover some dirty issues from his part. Only that when there are two charming men and a beautiful woman, something else comes along, and from foe she becomes the love interest of both of them, engendering an amusing love triangle. Obviously, the movie respects the time it is set in and it contains rather candid flirting and more brawls and fighting. Leatherheads does not end with a big game, as many might expect, but it does contain an important one, Duluth Versus Chicago, a metaphorical depiction of the rivalry between Connolly and Rutherford. The game, shot last year in Charlotte's American Legion Memorial Stadium, is more of a struggle in mud, a last battle marking the end of genuine passion-driven football. Keep posting, Mickey