J_Charles Congratulations George Clooney. You've captured the 1920s era in a delightful period piece. The script is witty and there's several exchanges between the main characters that evoke memories of the 'golden era' of cinema. Even some of the scene setups are taken straight from the classics - the scene in the railway car with Clooney and Zellwegger taking turns opening and closing their drapes still works after all those years.The football scenes are played for laughs. You have to love a movie that starts its opening scene with a cow acting as interested spectator of a football game.There are some that argue that Clooney tried addressing too many themes int he same film. And there are others who argue that the plot is threadbare. I don't see how these two polar opposite extremes can exist in the same movie. And now that I've seen it for myself I'm glad I did.9/10

Jacob Boyer Set in the late 1920's, Leatherheads, directed by George Clooney, takes a look into the formation and legitimization of professional football in the United States. The film is not the best of Clooney's work as a director, but it definitely got me to laugh and kept me interested with a plot that thickens as the movie progresses in this romantic, screwball, sports comedy. Now that may sound like a mouthful of genres thrown together, but taking place in the world of football, then filled with field workers, coal miners, and generally the brutes who could not make it into college, the film incorporates a love triangle between Dodge Connelly (George Clooney), Carter "The Bullet" Rutherford(John Krasinski), and Lexie Littleton(Renée Zellweger) along with a double plot. Early in the film it is revealed that Dodge's team, the Deluth Bulldogs, has gone bankrupt and can't afford to keep paying its players or travel to away games, which is also the reality of many other teams at the time. College football, on the other hand, is extremely popular, especially the sensational Carter Rutherford, a war hero (he single handedly stopped a squad of German soldiers while in combat) that is unstoppable on the field and has dashing good looks. Dodge plans to save the dying professional football league by recruiting Rutherford to play for the Deluth Bulldogs. In the midst of this, Lexie Littleton is a young, attractive, spitfire reporter assigned to do a story on the country's youngest and biggest war hero; however, the goal of her story is to find a fault in the man, to discredit the young hero and find out the truth. All three of our characters then find themselves together as Dodge coincidentally meets Lexie right before he talks Rutherford into playing for the Bulldogs. The movie goes on to follow the three of them in their tour of the east coast, playing football and trying to uncover the truth, with lots of screwball comedy along the way and some surprising twists in the story.The actors chosen for this film were an okay cast. George Clooney is a very strong, charismatic actor with a strong background from films such as "Ocean's Eleven" (2001) and "O Brother Where Art Thou?" (2000). He plays a convincing role in this film as well, making the audience believe that he really loves playing football with his friends and doesn't want to lose it just because there's no more money in it. His character does develop well throughout the movie as he faces the issues in front of him, and does so with a charm like any other man from the '20s would have. John Krasinski, most well known as Jim from NBC's "The Office", plays a much better role in this film then he did in "License to Wed" (2007). He fits the character perfectly as he is able to connect with both Clooney and Zellweger, even though he is much younger. Zellweger is the only character that wasn't the best possible cast in the movie for Littleton's character. Although she does look like she could be straight out of the 20's with her costumes and attitude in the film, her chemistry with Clooney and Krisinksi seems to be a little forced, like they are acting, as opposed to a flowing chemistry that makes the acting disappear and brings the film to life. The other problem is the age difference between the characters; it's a love triangle between different generations, this is a cause of the poor chemistry in some of the scenes. Overall each actor fits their own respective character and plays them well, and with Clooney's and Krasinksi's strong background in comedy, it really makes for a fun, playful film as they throw quip's back and forth at each other and try to woo Zellweger along the way. Aside from the acting, the art direction of this film was done excellently by Christa Munro and Scott T. Ritenour. The movie is scripted to take place in the 20s, and it looks like it was filmed then. Every single outfit seen in the movie is tailored and looks completely authentic to the time period (Costume designer: Louise Frogley) . The main outfits seen in the film are all custom fit suits, with common colors, such as black and tan. The military uniforms seen are also all accurate to the times, simple yet authoritative, and accurate to the uniforms used during World War II. The vehicles are all old Model T's etc, and Clooney rides around on a 1918 Indian motorcycle(which is actually an electric replica, but looks real nonetheless). The main transportation used in the film is by train, which was a new and popular way to travel during that era. The uniforms worn during the football games are also accurate to what was worn in the 20's by football players. The film even includes a scene that takes place in a speakeasy, as prohibition was still in effect at that time. The biggest downfall of the movie is the poor chemistry between Clooney and Zellweger, as they are the main love interests of the film, but their mismatched casting does not take away too much from the enjoyment of the film. The film is very appealing to the eye because of its accuracy of what the '20s looked like. The jokes throughout the film are also good for a laugh and are sure to at least make you smile. The plot of the film also starts somewhat slow, but the jokes start early and allow you to get past that. As the film progresses and more is revealed and the characters start to change and develop, the film becomes more enjoyable and continually draws you in, especially to find out what happens to the Bulldogs after signing Rutherford and what is the true story behind his heroism. This is definitely a film worth seeing for a good laugh and good time.

rajiraouf I became a fan of George Clooney watching him as Billy in The Perfect Storm. But I must say I watched this movie for its Renee factor much more than anything else.Leatherheadsis quite a conventional unconventional movie. It got no save the world plot, and yet has more than one plot intertwined within another series of plots. Just like ordinary life. The movie is quite subtle and has a plot of a suspected war hero, a failing football player, the birth of professional football and a teeny weenie romance as a side dish. Each scene seems honest and short. And sometimes shocking. There are no technicalities and the entire movie follows no particular rule of movie making or story telling. Just like the tagline says, this is a movie before the rules where there.Renee is a reporter sent to check the stories of an alleged war hero who now plays football but wants to study in Princeton. Clooney is struggling in football with a rough gritty team that's got all the usual comical characters. The forty year old man fights over the thirty old lady with the twenty year old boy. The villain is the new chief of professional football who brings in the rules to the game. There is one final football match that sets into concrete everyone's character. And the movie is over before you know it.Its a slapstick comedy in the 1920's. Its light and easily subject to too much criticism. Its worth a watch.

Corinna_Bella I was surprised to see the very generous rating on IMDb. This honestly is the worst film i have watched in my entire life. It was so slow and lifeless that i actually started making up other stories in my head to help make the time pass faster.Im not a high maintenance film watcher - ill happily sit through the most basic Rom com to an espionage film with constant twists and turns, to ... well you get the picture. My tastes are well rounded and easy to please.Renee looked like she had just sucked on a lemon in every scene. Her accent was terrible and acting worse. Im a huge fan of Bridget Jones and its tongue in cheek humour and her good portrait of the character so had some expectations (not particularly high) of how this movie would be. It didn't even deliver on those moderate expectations.If you have nothing to do this afternoon i suggest you save your $10 and watch paint dry or something equally more exciting than sitting through this film