A fun little homage to the old screwball comedies of the '30s, '40s, and '50s, Leatherheads is light and fun. Its pacing is never intense, its characters are never too dark, and it has a fair amount of witty verbal banter and sparring reminiscent of The Philadelphia Story and His Girl Friday.
Anyone who knows me fairly well knows that I don't care for sports movies. In fact, I tend to hate most of them. As everyone who has a TV (and likely seen the trailer approximately 27 times) knows, Leatherheads is, in part, about football. But anyone who barely knows me knows that my long-standing, deep-rooted crush John Krasinski can overcome, well, anything. (I'm glaring at you, License to Wed.) So off to the end zone I went. And here is a synopsis and some of my thoughts:
The story: Professional football is an unsuccessful franchise that pales in comparison to the popularity of college football. Charming pro football player Dodge Connolly (George Clooney) decides to revamp pro football by enlisting college football's most popular player (and WWI hero) Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski). Spunky news reporter Lexie Littleton (Renée Zellweger) sets out to discover if America's favorite war hero is really what he says he is. Romantic comedy ensues.
It's a typical set-up for a romantic comedy, especially a screwball comedy. There aren't many curveballs plot-wise, but it's fun to see a story so deeply rooted in a different era. The pacing will likely bother a great deal of people because it comfortably strolls along for nearly the entire film. And others will probably resent the predictability of the plot. Both of those things usually bother me, but they didn't this time around.
The actors and their characters: Okay, first things first. I don't know why so many people dislike Renée Zellweger so much. She's a great actress, and she's refreshingly different. If you don't like her or you think she sucks, I can think of two possible (and common) reasons for this: 1. You haven't seen much of her work, and/or 2. She's not your favorite brand of different. If the former, please do yourself a favor and correct it. If the latter, then there's nothing I can say to change your mind. Anyway, on with the review:
George Clooney and Renée Zellweger blend into the Roaring Twenties setting like they were born in it, and their characters feel a Coen-esque version of Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn characters. One thing that made Katharine Hepburn so different and special was her voice. Renée Zellweger's voice, although completely different from Katharine's, has that same wonderfully distinctive quality. And her delivery is always spot-on. John Krasinski was also a great casting choice. His real-life endless supply of humorous facial expressions and everyman charm shine through in his character's best moments in the film. Most of the minor characters aren't fleshed out into anything more than stereotypes (misogynistic boss, sleazeball sports agent), but I'm not sure that giving them more time would have been a good idea anyway -- Clooney and Zellweger tend to steal the show.
The sound and look: The dialogue was snappy at times, especially when Clooney and Zellweger start sparring, but I think the writers played it a little safe, pandering to conventional, predictable audiences who would probably dismiss old screwball comedy dialogue as cheesy. When the dialogue was clever, it was very funny. But I'm a sucker for a good one-liner. The music, done by Randy Newman, was a lot of fun; he did a fantastic job matching the music with the era.
I loved the look of the movie. The cinematography wasn't anything groundbreaking, but there were a handful of fun shots and sight gags throughout. There were loads of advertisements in the film that fit perfect with the image of the '20s. John Krasinski's handsome mug makes for some really great ads. I tried to find a few of my favorites, but I had no luck. I did find this wallpaper, though:
The costumes were one of my favorite aspects of the film. (John Krasinski in pinstriped dress shirts and vests? Yes. Please.) I've always loved the fashion of the '20s, and seeing this reminded me how much I would have loved to live in that decade. Oh, I long to live in a time when men wear suits and vests every day and women commonly wear fancy hats and do their hair in loose finger waves.
I tried to find a picture of my favorite hat that Renée wears, but I couldn't. I did find a couple of good stills, though. Behold:
Overall impression: I acknowledge it's not a perfect film, but it's far and away the most fun I've had at the movies so far this year. Plus, it makes me happy to see John Krasinski playing a multifaceted, great character in such a fun movie, rather than playing a quirky, funny character in a bad movie (A New Wave) or playing another version of Jim Halpert in a horrible movie that was punishing to behold (License to Wed).
2 comments:
This is making me want to skip the second session of conference and head to the movies. I love the 20s. I've often thought if I could go back in time, I would go there.
I'm glad to hear a good review on this movie. I really liked it but I've talked to so many people that gave it a thumbs down. I don't know what they were expecting, but I thought that the acting was good, it was a good story, and it was an overall fun movie to watch.
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