| LEATHERHEADS (2008) : G.Clooney : 5/10 |
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 Those Cary Grant comparisons are perhaps a little premature, but there's little doubting George Clooney is, by current standards, an old-school kind of movie star: self-deprecatingly glamorous in an urbane, manly, aw-shucks kind of way; eminently comfortable in period duds and hairstyles; flirtatiously deferential to his female co-stars. And his third film as director, Leatherheads, is a decidedly old-school kind of movie: a comedy about the jazz-age birth of 'modern' professional (American) Football. We see the mid-1920s transition from the sport's origins - a mud-splattered, rugby-style, largely-anarchic affair conducted in "turnip fields" - and its lucrative, highly-trained more modern incarnation. The game's two forms are epitomised by lumbering, fortysomething warhorse Dodge Callaway (Clooney) and lithe, well-scrubbed 25-year-old Carter 'The Bullet' Rutherford (John Krasinski). Sensing the way the wind is blowing, Dodge - as much of a throwback in his milieu as Clooney is in Hollywood 2008 - recruits college-star Rutherford to join his struggling pro team, the Duluth Bulldogs. Complications ensue when both men become smitten by ambitious journalist Lexi Littleton (Renee Zellweger), a dirt-digger keen to discover the truth about Rutherford's supposedly heroic war-record. Unassumingly amiable, mildly amusing, handsomely executed in all technical departments (and infinitely preferable to the manipulative bombast of Zellweger's last period-sports pic, Cinderella Man), Leatherheads is a genial enough way to pass a couple of hours - though it's no surprise to find that the picture been a notable flop at the US box-office. The multiplex isn't really an ideal home for such folksy fare: Sunday afternoon television will be a better fit, when its 'Werthers Original' flavour (sweetness without much nourishment) may cast a gentle spell on indulgent older viewers - especially those nostalgic for old-timey sports stories. However, such seniors will be familiar with the 1930s and 1940s comedies which Leatherheads seeks to emulate - only for it to fall considerably and consistently short. Such enterprises either click, skipping along on the zippy verve of their dialogue, or they don't. And although director Clooney again teams up with editor Stephen Mirrione, the pair display little of the economic flair that made their (93-minute!) Good Night and Good Luck one of 2005's best. The results, though not exactly disastrous, just keep missing the target - in a manner that recalls another disappointingly inert Clooney-comedy, Intolerable Cruelty. One small, revealing detail: it's all very well to rely on sepia-tinted photographs to provide period mood, and to use mocked-up newspaper front pages to provide exposition, but somebody whould really have bothered to provide small-print to match the headlines. The episodic, unevenly-paced script - credited to sports-journalists Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, though reportedly extensively rewritten by Clooney himself - isn't any great shakes, lurching unwisely into slapstick on more than one occasion and giving the distinct feel of several rewrites too many (the screenplay has been kicking about since the early 90s, and at one juncture was even mooted as Steven Soderbergh's followup to sex, lies and videotape.) The hapless, miscast Zellweger, meanwhile, continues her recent, alarming decline, lumbering through dialogue which might have stumped even the likes of Rosalind Russell, back in the day. Her hard is artfully arranged (two dedicated stylists are credited!) to resemble Veronica Lake's - but Zellweger offers only ersatz period verisimilitude (watch how often she waves a cigarette around without ever actually putting it anywhere near her vermillion lips.) While there isn't much chemistry between Zellweger and either of her two male co-stars, Krasinski does manage to make quite a strong impression as the figure around whom the weak plot creakingly pivots. He doesn't he provide the best performance on view (that honour goes to Pete Gerety, a sly delight as American Football's first Commissioner). But this lanky (6'3"), quirkily handsome, eminently likeable graduate of American TV's The Office provides evidence to suggest he's a fair each-way bet to eventually ascend, over the next decade, towards Clooneyish heights of prominence. Neil Young 15/18.Apr.08 -------------------------------------------------------------------- USA (/Ger) 114m (BBFC timing) director : George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck.; Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.) editor : Stephen Mirrione (Ocean's Thirteen; Babel; Good Night, and Good Luck., etc. : see below) seen 9.Apr.08 Newcastle (Empire cinema : press show) Stephen Mirrione feature-film credits: 1: 1994 Getting In (aka Student Body) Doug Liman 2: 1995 Monster Mash - The Movie (aka Frankenstein Sings) Cohen & Sokolow 3: 1997 Clockwatchers Jill Sprecher 4: 1999 Go Doug Liman 5: 2000 Traffic Steven Soderbergh <<won Oscar 6: 2001 Thirteen Conversations About One Thing Jill Sprecher 7: 2001 Tribute Curry & Fox (co-editor with Rich Fox) 8: 2001 Ocean's Eleven Steven Soderbergh 9: 2002 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind George Clooney 10: 2003 21 Grams Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu 11: 2004 Criminal Gregory Jacobs (co-editor with Douglas Crise) 12: 2004 Ocean's Twelve Steven Soderbergh 13: 2005 Good Night, and Good Luck. George Clooney 14: 2006 Babel Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu <<Oscar-nominated (co-editor with Douglas Crise) 15: 2007 Ocean's Thirteen Stephen Soderbergh 16: 2008 Leatherheads George Clooney |
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