Leatherheads (2008)
Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 163
Fresh: 85 | Rotten: 78
Despite a good premise and strong cast, this pro football romcom is half screwball and half fumble.
Average Rating: 5.2/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 25
Despite a good premise and strong cast, this pro football romcom is half screwball and half fumble.
liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 156,158
Movie Info
Good Night, and Good Luck director George Clooney pulls double duty once again in this sports-oriented romantic comedy set against the formation of professional football in the 1920s. Dodge Connelly (Clooney) is a brash and handsome gridiron giant who is equally comfortable leading his team in a barroom brawl or charging for a touchdown in a packed stadium. But when Connelly's team loses their sponsor and the entire league appears set to collapse, the quick-thinking jock attempts a creative
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Cast
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George Clooney
Dodge Connolly -
Renée Zellweger
Lexie Littleton -
John Krasinski
Carter Rutherford -
Jonathan Pryce
CC Frazier -
Peter Gerety
Commissioner -
Jack Thompson
Harvey -
Stephen Root
Suds -
Wayne Duvall
Coach Ferguson -
Keith Loneker
Big Gus -
Robert Baker
Stump -
Matt Bushell
Curly -
Tommy Hinkley
Hardleg -
Nick Paonessa
Zoom -
Max Casella
Mack Steiner -
Mike O'Malley
Mickey -
Heather Goldenhersh
Belinda/Flapper -
Marian Seldes
Clerk
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Leatherheads Trailer & Photos
All Critics (164) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (85) | Rotten (78) | DVD (4)
The movie gets lots of things right, yet it fumbles key facets so badly that you simply can't christen it the gridiron version of 'His Girl Friday'.
Top CriticLeatherheads is a romp with some great chemistry between the leads and enough laughs and surprises to keep you entertained.
Tragically, Leatherheads is just OK, though the film may well find an audience among those eager for a little diversion, what with the nostalgia factor and the George Clooney factor.
Maybe the film loses a little steam as it rolls along, but it is still puffing and tooting as Clooney and Zellweger ride off into the sunset.
There's a jaunty score by Randy Newman, and Clooney, as always, has charm to burn, but here, he's off his game.
[Has] a breezy, affable spirit, and its very casualness is something that's extremely rare in mainstream movies these days.
Leatherheads is too light-hearted to rise above its limitations, and its inability to decide on a tone doesn't help any, but it's too well crafted and thought out to be actually bad.
Clooney stages screwball repartee like a ping-pong match shot through molasses
Leatherheads tries to be a screwball comedy, but it's more The Eleven Stooges.
Agreeable yet uneven...
Mostly simply tries for fun, and for a good part of it, it delivers. But with it's jumble of elements, it doesn't allow a central one to take hold and truly fly.
Leatherheads really doesn't know what kind of film it is, and as a result it shanks the winning kick -not by a mile- but by enough to be a disappointment.
A gorgeous, charming, quaintly stylish movie comprised almost exclusively of moments and not so much story or characters.
Therein lies the problem with Leatherheads %u2014 it has too many fish to fry, and most of them come out half-done.
This is the slightest of Clooney's directorial offerings, but it's carried over the line by two charismatic leads and a well-honed screenplay.
Star power is not enough to save this film from mediocrity.
"Leatherheads" fails because it has trouble balancing its many plots, and because it has nothing remotely interesting to say about any of them.
I'm sad to report that Clooney has had his first misfire as a director.
It's the bad moments that will probably stay with you.
The movie does a nice job with the period details, but Clooney still can't get the romantic comedy angle right.
Leatherheads, which opens with the logo that Universal used back in the 1940s instead of the present one, is so successful at reviving the screwball comedy that you're prepared to forgive it some flaws.
As period rom-coms go, Leatherheads is mild entertainment.
Leatherheads is like an oasis in the middle of a desert - a genuinely enjoyable romantic comedy.
Meticulously recreating the era and the sensibilities of the time, Clooney looks as though he is having a riot of a time, be it is grappling in the mud for the ball, or throwing madcap lines at Renee Zellweger's worldly, ambitious journalist
It's hard to deny that Clooney is one of Hollywood's best leading men, and "Leatherheads" proves that he can be just as good behind the camera as he is in front of it.
Clooney's third movie as director is his weakest.
Audience Reviews for Leatherheads
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Movies Like Leatherheads
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- Lexie Littleton: And don't think just 'cause you haven't said anything that I don't know what you're up to. I'm talking to you, behind the magazine. Don't you know I could have you arrested for eavesdropping?
- Dodge Connolly: Excuse me?
- Lexie Littleton: Or are you really an avid reader of "Ladies Home Journal?"
- Dodge Connolly: I never miss an issue.
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- Lexie Littleton: Sure. Yeah. These are a lot like your plays, only a little more effective.
- Dodge Connolly: I'm not afraid to say it. I'm in love with Leonard. Go ahead and laugh, everyone does. We had something beautiful until you came along. You think you can just toss him away like a sack of flour?
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- Dodge Connolly: I guess I should get a couple of diagrams of the plays we run.
- Carter Rutherford: Sure. Yeah. These are a lot like your plays, only a little more effective.
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- Carter Rutherford: Wait. Where were you two?
- Dodge Connolly: Out.
- Lexie Littleton: Nowhere.
- Carter Rutherford: Did you kiss her?
- Lexie Littleton: Now wait a minute.
- Carter Rutherford: I want answers!
- Dodge Connolly: Yeah, I kissed her! On the mouth, twice! And I liked it. A lot!
- Carter Rutherford: Oh you did, did you?
- Dodge Connolly: Yeah!
- Lexie Littleton: Thanks.
- Dodge Connolly: You're welcome.
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- Dodge Connolly: So you flying solo or is the Bullet casting about?
- Lexie Littleton: What do you care? You're here to entertain Miss Nipplewidth.
- Dodge Connolly: It wouldn't look good for you to get caught in a place like this.
- Lexie Littleton: I dare say it wouldn't look good for anyone to be caught in a place like this.
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- Dodge Connolly: Being the slickest operator in Duluth is sort of like being the world's tallest midget, if you ask me!
- Lexie Littleton: You know, it's too bad we are so much alike, otherwise we would have gotten along perfectly!
- Dodge Connolly: I'll live.
- Lexie Littleton: Alone!
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Latest News on Leatherheads
April 10, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Teens Dress Up For Prom NightMultiplexes gear up for another weekend of empty seats as Hollywood supplies three new films that...
April 7, 2008:
WGA, George Clooney at odds over Leatherheads creditClooney went financial core last fall, after the WGA decided 2-1 in a credit arbitration vote that...
April 7, 2008:
Leatherheads Consultant Profiled: As films' train master, he keeps period pieces on trackMiller's professional journey has included detours but he has never strayed too far from the tracks....
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