Reviews

I saw the movie, and I read a few of the reviews. Even though I know we watched the same movie, I seem to have taken away a different message than many others. To me, the movie I saw was not so much about France in 1942, the "Vel' d'Hiv" Roundup, or how it affected the life of one small girl. To me, the movie was about the nature of man - how little it changes, how much it affects the world, and how events we look on as "horrible," "tragic," and "history" are really just parts of our everyday lives.

The movie grabs you right from the start when one family, the Starzynskis, is taken from their home and packed into a small velodrome with 8,000 other French Jews before being transported to concentration camps. Viewers comment, "I didn't know this ever happened," or "How could people treat each other this way" when the truth is that this type of thing is still happening today in various parts of the world right under our noses. Oh, the faces have changed, along with the players, and the circumstances, but the cold, dark soul of humankind still carries on its atrocities behind a veil of self-righteousness, and complacent ignorance. This is what conflict looks like, and this is what it does to people. There are many more casualties than just the just the poor souls duped into putting on uniforms, and laying down their lives in that ironic twist called patriotism. They kill on the premise of preserving life, imprison others on the premise of creating freedom, and tear down the fiber of man on the premise of building up mankind. The worst part is that each and every one of us is just as guilty as any who ever gave an order or pulled a trigger because we allow this insanity to continue.

The movie has another side as well. It also shows how, even in times of adversity, men can have compassion. The movie's heroine, Sarah, likely would not be alive today if not for the compassion first of a camp guard, and second by a family who took pity upon her and her fellow escapee. And, then, there's the compassion of Sarah, herself, who, in trying to save her brother, ended up being his executioner, and found it impossible to live out her life in the knowledge of what she had done. It shows how even though mankind can collectively act in heartless fashion, there still remain among us those whose hearts have not turned to stone, and who still feel the power of the bonds of brotherhood. Despite all of the circumstances surrounding that "different" Summer of '42, Sarah does not place the blame on any other but herself, and, after attempts to erase her past fail, she takes her own life.

No, no matter what you may feel, this movie is not about the past. This movie only uses the past to illustrate the present. All of us who sit around content with our relative peace while innocent lives are taken in Afghanistan, while mothers abandon their children in Somalia, and while atrocity still affects the world like the festering sore of some deadly infection are just as guilty as if we'd done the deeds ourselves. Like Sarah, we will all find that we cannot hide peace in some closet, lock it away for days, and hope that we can return to find it just as we left it. And, also like Sarah, once we discover what we have done to our world, we will have to try to find a way to live with ourselves in the realization of what we have done.

Now, I am not sure if they used the "Pig in a Poke", or the "Crusty Cat Tail", but they sure did pull the razzle-dazzle on the audience with this one. The trailer makes the movie appear to be the exciting story of the infancy of Professional Football spiced up with the romance of two players competing for the attention of a witty, upstart female journalist. Wait, it must be the "Statue of Liberty" play. Just when you think the director is going to pass you downfield to a cute, funny movie, he hands off on the end around to another ordinary story.

"Leatherheads" is the tale of Jimmy "Dodge" Connelly of the Duluth Bulldogs. Professional football is in its infancy and not catching on with fans. Teams are going belly-up all around, and the Bulldogs are one of them. After seeing the publicity garnered by one collegiate athlete, Connelly has the idea to sign the Princeton University star back named Carter "The Bullet" Rutherford. He hopes crowds of fans will come to see Rutherford play and pay good money to do so, thus saving his team and the league. The ploy seems to work, but, at the same time, Lexie Littleton, star reporter of the Tribune, comes to town to uncover the truth about Carter Rutherford.

Rutherford turns out to be a publicity "double threat". Not only does he play football like a man possessed, he also served in World War I, won acclaim there as well and came back to the states a hero. At the Ardennes in southern Belgium, Rutherford captured an entire platoon of Germans singlehandedly in Sergeant York style. America loves him. Unfortunately, one of the soldiers from Rutherford's platoon contacts the Editor of the Tribune claiming Rutherford is a fraud. I suppose the Editor could just print the other soldier's revelation, but, instead, he sends star reporter, Lexie Littleton, to charm the truth out of Rutherford, and she succeeds.

Under the spell of Littleton and in a moment of weakness, Rutherford reveals that he did capture the Germans, but his heroics are exaggerated. Rutherford actually fell asleep in a trench and did not notice when the rest of his platoon moved out. With the trench vacated, the Germans move in to attack the allies. Rutherford, trapped behind lines, throws his hands in the air and shouts, "I give up" in German. The other Germans think he is one of them, throw their hands up too, and the allies come back to capture them all. With the press in attendance, the story is blown-up to sell to the folks back home.

There is some political volleyball with "Should she tell the truth?", "Will it ruin football?", and "What's good for the country?", but the story is published and Littleton is put in the hot seat. When Rutherford recants the story he told Littleton, Connelly pulls a fast one tricking Rutherford to confess in front of the Commissioner of Football, promoter C.C. Frazier and the Editor of the Tribune, but the movie is not over yet. To remind us that this is football movie, one last, meaningless game is played and the Bulldogs win using muddy jerseys and trickery. Somewhere during the movie, Connelly and Littleton fall in love. In the tradition of Hollywood cowboy movies, Connelly and Littleton get hitched, and ride off into the sunset to live happily ever after, but not on a horse. Instead, they hop on Connelly's Harley Davidson, complete with sidecar. End of show.

Like a preseason NFL game, there is football at the beginning of this movie and football at the end, but the product in between is questionable. The movie has its moments, but cannot sustain the momentum very long. Actually, there is more football in the trailer, (which is ultimately more interesting than the movie), than there is in the entire film. For a comedy, it is not particularly funny. For a romance, it is not particularly romantic. I left the theatre thinking the Xs and Os did not play out quite the way they were drawn up on the chalkboard. Maybe they should have used the other playbook.

A rating of "B" is very fair for this movie. How can a movie with Renee Zellweger and George Clooney rate lower than that? Not every great talent can direct himself in a movie and that is probably where Clooney went wrong. It is a cute idea with a lot of potential, but, like a Heisman Trophy winner who did not make it in the big leagues, the plot moves along like a grizzled veteran coming off injured reserve.

Title: "Leatherheads" Director: George Clooney Rating: PG-13, Run Time: 1 hour, 54 minutes, Genre: Comedy, Romantic Comedy Cast: George Clooney as Jimmy "Dodge" Connelly, Renee Zellweger as Lexie Littleton, John Krasinski as Carter "The Bullet" Rutherford, Jonathan Pryce as C.C. Frazier, Peter Gerety as Commissioner Pete Harkin