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Reviews Counted:161
Fresh:84
Rotten:77
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Despite a good premise and strong cast, this pro football romcom is half screwball and half fumble.
Theatrical Release:Apr 4, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $31,199,215
Synopsis: From his casual charm to his cleft chin, George Clooney has frequently drawn comparisons to an actor of another age: Cary Grant. With his third directorial effort, the Oscar winner pays homage to... [More]
Starring: George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, John Krasinski, Jonathan Pryce
Director: George Clooney
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The flirtatious banter is often clever, but 'Leatherheads' demonstrates that writing alone wasn't responsible for the head-spinning irresistibility of Howard Hawks' 'Twentieth Century' and 'His Girl Friday,' to cite two screwball-masterpiece influences.
You've got to give Clooney credit for trying, especially when most of Leatherheads is a jaunty, jazz age dream.
"Leatherheads" is a profoundly unprofound film that really doesn't have anything on its mind other than to give audiences a couple of hours of giggly fun.
To call something a screwball comedy instead of just a comedy is to add an extra level of farcical expectations all too easy to not meet.
The film's disjointedness would be acceptable except that it causes inconsistency with its overall pace and rhythm. Aside from some momentum snares and trite turns, though, Leatherheads succeeds in the entertainment department.
For something that was pitched as a screwball comedy, Leatherheads is kind of lumbering, unwieldy, and awkward.
"Leatherheads" lacks flair and pizzazz. Like a highly touted No. 1 draft pick who flops, it is all potential without substance.
As a star Clooney is in his element, but as a director he's strained.
It seems as if the MPAA unfairly upped a clear "PG" movie into a "PG-13". But adding numbers can't even the score on the edge that Leatherheads lacks in the sharpness of its humor delivery and the hits on the field.
a madcap romp full of laughs and verbal gymnastics, but the movie becomes too serious towards the end
Comes across as a pale period piece, an imitation enamored of energy and enthusiasm, but failing to generate either.
hangs so close to films produced during a forgotten age that audiences who don't recall how quick-witted screwball comedies used to be might not fully appreciate it (or even care to).
The real high points of the movie are the verbal sparring matches between Clooney and Zellweger, and Clooney, Zellweger & Krasinski.
A loopy Roaring Twenties screwball comedy, executed with confidence.
Director and star George Clooney's game attempt to capture the high-spirited silliness of classic screwball comedies falls flat, in large part because Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly's screenplay lacks sparkle.
Most of the gags work, but the shtick is overdone and Clooney finally runs out of charming reactions to the world's abuse.
Executed with a fizzy bang that Clooney pulls off with a prohibition stupor and some knee-slapping generosity; the man knows how to stage a bar fight and a game of verbal chess with the best of them.
Leatherheads labors so strenuously to approximate some of the old screwball spirit of the ’30s and ’40s that it winds up in traction.
Top CriticJust as robot scientists describe the "uncanny valley" effect, the more Clooney tries to be Clark Gable, the wider the gulf appears between them.
Drawing from movies rather than life, Leatherheads often feels like a likable exercise in retro style rather than a film with a compelling reason to exist on its own.
September 10, 2008:
An odd screen combo of insanely silly retro-screwball humor, the bumbling antics of a football team of attention deficit disorder, looney tunes Keystone jocks, and a smart-aleck, acid tongue reporter babe upstaging all those sweaty gents around her. 
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April 16, 2008:
UK Box Office Breakdown: Sony's 21 Gamble pays off
Gambling drama 21 cleans up at the UK box office this week, taking both the number one spot and twice-as-much cash as another film. George Clooney however should maybe stick to... More...
April 10, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Teens Dress Up For Prom Night
Multiplexes gear up for another weekend of empty seats as Hollywood supplies three new films that are unlikely to energize the North American box office. More...
April 07, 2008:
WGA, George Clooney at odds over Leatherheads credit
Clooney went financial core last fall, after the WGA decided 2-1 in a credit arbitration vote that only Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly deserved screen credit on the picture... More...
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