Leatherheads

Ostensibly a whimsical sports tale, Leatherheads has higher aspirations than the average football farce — it’s not Unnecessary Roughness goes back in time. And therein lies its problem. Returning to the roots of professional football (circa 1925), it considers the relationship between athletics and battle and the commodification of sport, throwing in a light-handed meditation on heroism (à la George Washington/Watchmen) for good measure. When it thankfully eschews its loftier concerns, its delightful screwball romance, hangdog amiability and gorgeous period backdrop make for a charming comedy. Unfortunately those moments are too few. Murderous game show hosts (see Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) and fifth estate social reformers (Goodnight and Good Luck) better serve director/star George Clooney’s quiet erudition than pre-Depression proletarian athletes. Though Leatherheads never gets overtly didactic, its multiple messages are incongruent in a screwball romance and ultimately distract from its sound central plot. As still-there veteran and old school football purist Dodge Connelly, Clooney’s affability carries the film through its brassier moments and Renée Zellweger’s cynical journalist is a well-suited foil. The Office’s John Krasinski imbues his collegiate star/accidental war hero with fresh depth, avoiding the role’s "aw shucks” trappings. Furthermore, Clooney has a knack for utilizing support players and he gets a handful of great turns from the background players. In particular, veteran character actors Stephen Root and Pete Gerety give memorable performances despite little screen time. Past Clooney efforts created unique and insular worlds that used period templates to tell still-relevant stories. Here, ’20s football is beautifully rendered, thanks largely to production designer James D. Bissell, costume designer Louise Frogley, Randy Newman’s period appropriate score and the best selection of hats put to film this year. It exists in a world of autumnal colours, painstaking era details, farcical freneticism, and rapid-fire dialogue. Mischievously light-hearted action sequences forgo the ballet-evoking choreography of recent football films (see Friday Night Lights) in favour of endearing scruffiness, although they are essentially bookends and the showdown climax plays like an afterthought. Similarly, a promising re-imagining of a Bull Durham-style love triangle is disappointingly under-serviced. The solid DVD package has a handful of enlightening behind-the-scenes mini-docs, the best of which explains the painstaking process of effectively recreating a bygone world. Also, it elucidates the filmmakers’ intentions, regardless of their ultimate missteps.