Leatherheads

Leatherheads

Directed by George Clooney

(PG-13)

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A romantic triangle causes strife on an early pro football team.

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George Clooney’s throwback to the rough-and-tumble first days of professional football “meets its goal,” said Claudia Puig in USA Today. Leatherheads, which marks the third film in his directorial career, aims for the snappy humor and lighthearted gambol of the best screwball comedies of the 1930s. With Clooney leading his team both on- and offscreen, the film remains “faithful to the era” but is amiable at best. It’s clear he is familiar with and rather fond of Hollywood’s Golden Age, said Stephanie Zacharek in Salon.com. He takes pleasure in “revisiting and refreshing”

old cinematic conventions—verbally sparring, for instance, with co-star Renee Zellweger. Like Clooney, the film never tries too hard and therefore exudes a “breezy, affable spirit” rarely found in theaters today. That’s only because “nothing much is at stake” for the film and its director, said David Ansen in Newsweek. Having solidified his place in Hollywood, Clooney feels no need to impress. He lets Leatherheads become “terminally tepid” instead of retaining the rapid-fire wit of old comedies.