Clooney's third directorial outing, and his followup to the Oscar nominated Good Night and Good Luck. This movie is quite a bit lighter, a screwball comedy about the early days of professional football. Clooney stars as a pro football player for the Duluth Bulldogs in 1925. The sport is not very popular at this level, but is insanely so at the college level. His plan to increase attendance and save the sport is to recruit football and war hero John Krasinski, who plays for Princeton, onto the team, though college football players rarely go on to the pros. Meanwhile, a reporter from Chicago, played by Renée Zellweger, has discovered that Krasinski's war hero story is bunk, and plans to expose him. While never hilarious, it's quite an enjoyable movie. Clooney, I think, is a more talented director than any of his three films have displayed. I think, if he ever gets his hands on a great script, he'll knock out a truly great film. He captures the period detail well, and the photography is great. I think the film would be a whole lot better without Zellweger. I'm not necessarily a Zellweger hater, but she's staggeringly awful here and drags the whole film down a notch. I like the whole fin de siecle mood. Nothing especially memorable, but a good time.
Review of Leatherheads
