By: Bennett Fuson <[email protected]>

It seems that in the past few years, sports history, always an entertaining genre, has become the fodder for many “inspirational” films. Remember the Titans. Glory Road. Radio, sort of. The fad has become so popular that there has even been a send-up to the genre (although if you actually saw “The Comebacks,” you probably won’t be able to read all these big words). So, in an effort to ride the wave of genre success, director/actor/”Sexiest Man Alive” candidate George Clooney decided to tell his version, commonly known as “Leatherheads,” of one of the greatest moments in sports history: the founding of professional football.

If needed, read that sentence again, because it is in fact correct. George Clooney, the man behind the smarmy Danny Ocean in the “Ocean’s” trilogy, telling the story of the pigskin, the pinnacle of man’s achievement regarding civil brutality, seems like an odd joke, especially since most of Clooney’s roles require very little physical strain. Clooney plays Jimmy “Dodge” Connelly, captain and star player of the Duluth Bulldogs (historically, a Minnesota hockey team). The Bulldogs, like most professional football teams in the 1920s, have fallen under rough times due to lack of interest in professional football, interest that has shifted toward the collegiate level. In order to keep his players’ jobs after a loss of sponsorship, Connelly enlists the talent of collegiate football’s most popular athlete, Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford, played by John Krasinski (better known as Jim from “The Office”). Connelly’s got a secret about his past, and it’s up to reporter Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger) to figure it out. Did you catch all of that?

First off, let’s clear something out of the way: “Leatherheads” really isn’t a football movie. Football is certainly there, but it’s about as important as the boat in the first half of “Titanic”: essentially, it is the clear glue that holds everything together. Yet for what it mildly lacks in man-on-man folly, “Leatherheads” makes up in relationship humor. Clooney and Zellweger are perfect sparring partners, since each has the cool personality and intellect to retort the other’s witty remarks. Their relationship is drenched in over-the-top rhetorical antics, yet the two deliver performances that really make you feel for the situations both are stuck in. Clooney also contends with his profane, alcoholic sports writer Suds (an underappreciated Stephen Root, of “Office Space” fame) and Rutherford’s coolly evil manager C.C. Frazier (an overappreciated Jonathan Pryce, better known as Governor Swan of “Pirates of the Caribbean”).

Clooney and Zellweger aren’t perfect. Clooney acts as though he took his role from “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and put on a fancier outfit. Zellweger acts with an air of fierce feminist independence, which suits her character well. Unfortunately, history says that her Lexie Littleton should have kept her mouth shut for another 40 years. Yet Clooney and Zellweger keep the movie from sinking, while the rest of the cast seems to bucket in the boredom. John Krasinski, who usually kills on “The Office,” was a horrible miscasting mistake by Clooney. His performance as the “aw, shucks” everyman caught in a less-than-desirable situation seemed very forced and fake, which could be due in part to my expectation after every line to give his classic smug grin at the camera, then pull Dwight Shrute’s stapler out of the football. Krasinski, although a major player in the television industry, is not yet ready for a role of this size. Pryce, as the smooth-move, big shot sports manager, acts with a level of smugness that not even Clooney could surpass. And that’s not a good thing.
SStill, “Leatherheads” proves to be a worthwhile film, if not directly for the sports appeal. The film ran about 20 minutes more than it should have, especially with the formation of regulation football, but the cast remained lively enough to finish out the film. And although the supporting cast did little, if anything, to fulfill its title, Clooney and Zellweger carried “Leatherheads,” even if not to a cinematic touchdown.

SUMMARY
Starring: George Clooney (“Ocean’s 11”), Renee Zellweger (“Bridget Jones’s Diary”), John Krasinski (“The Office”), Jonathan Pryce (“Pirates of the Caribbean”)
Director: George Clooney
Rating: PG-13
In theaters: April 4, 2008
Grade: B