I heard somewhere that the target audience for this movie was 50-80 year olds and I'm not surprised as it is a complete throwback to a different era when people behaved very differently and slapstick movies like this were popular. And for one this reviewer really enjoyed it. I know I will be in the minority, but so what.Plot In A Paragraph: In 1925. Dodge Connolly (George Clooney) a charming football hero, is determined to guide his team to the top. But after the players lose their sponsor and the entire league faces certain collapse, Dodge convinces a college football star to join his team. Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski) America's golden-boy war hero who single- handedly forced multiple German soldiers to surrender in WWI, Carter is good on the field too, reporter Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger) believes he is too good to be true, and aims to prove it. However she finds herself drawn to both men and the two teammates start to become off-field rivals. Clooney seems really at home in movies set in a bygone era (see "O Brother Were Art Thou" and appears to be having a lot of fun here. Zellweger has a certain charm and Krasinski more than holds his own against two superior actors.I'm not sure about the hate aimed at this movie, I think the people who hate on it, clearly didn't understand it. And that is saying something as its not a complicated movie. I found it well directed, charming, funny and an enjoyable way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Before there wasn't any rules, there was a game with no rules. George Clooney brings the audience to a time where there were no Super Bowls, and America pro-football league was really struggling. The film is a romantic 'screwball' comedy set against 1925 starting the over camera mugging leading man Dodge Connolly (George Clooney), a charming, brash football hero, is determined to guide his team from cow fields to packed stadiums. George Clooney is best suite for comedy, and it works in this film. His charm, his timing, and the way, he can get the attention to the audience to follow him is amazing. He's seems the leader type in the role. He wants to make the sport better, but deep inside of him, he knows he can't do the breaking of the rules anymore if he wants the sport to survive. Right now it's not. Not only the team lose their sponsor due to fighting, but the entire league faces certain collapse, unless Dodge can figure out a way to save the sport. Dodge convinces a popular college football star to join his ragtag ranks. That popular college football star is All-American Carter Rutherford ( John Krasinski) a World War 1 who single-handedly forced multiple German Soldiers to surrender during the trench warfare. Carter has dashing good looks and unparalleled speed on the field that can help the struggling sport finally capture the country's attention. Carter also holds a secret about his past, that Dodge is trying to figure out. Not only Dodge, but Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger) a sport journalist looking for the big scoop. Lexie tries to get close to both Dodge and Carter to find out if there is truly a deep dark secret that Carter is holding and maybe the All-American American isn't as perfect as it seems. Renee is no more then repeating how she acts when playing Roxie Hart in Chicago. Something about her, doesn't speak or look sexy. It's not new, it's feels cartoony when hearing the fast-talking exchanging between her and Dodge. The script gives her hard-boiled witticisms to work with, some are good quotes that are quite funny and sophisticated, others need some more work. It works better then some of the dearth of dialogue in other period films from today. The love triangle between the three is great, because each of them are trying to get over the other. The ending game is still awesome, I like how they pull out a way for the team to use what they learn for the War to apply to the game of football. George definitely was influenced by th film "The Sport Parade" (1932) for this film, and the film also loosely mirrors the real life events that save the NFL in real life, with Jim Thorpe joining the Canton Bulldogs. The team in the film also sports the name 'Bulldogs'. Leatherheads try re-creates a genre long lost, and while both don't fully realize the style of the classics they emulate, it's refreshing to see someone still remembers. The overacting by George Clooney and Renee Zellweger's sun parched face does hurt the film. The music, by Randy Newman, gooses the action along in a desperate effort to create an atmosphere of madcap Jazz Age insouciance, but over all, it's mediocre, but it's worth watching. Yes, it might be dumbfounded, and have some scarecrows brains bad pacing areas in the film, but eventually it's just a matter of taste. I find this so-so good, so check it out if a football fan.

"Leatherheads" is set in the 1920s in the mid-western states about the beginnings of pro-football. George Clooney, appropriately, plays a guy in his mid-40s who hasn't really grown up yet and is determined to just play football and legitimize it as a professional sport. His objective is in sight when he learns of 'the bullet' (John Krasinski) a college football phenom. But along with the arrival of an actually good football player, comes Renee Zellweger, an independent and confident young woman who writes for a Chicago newspaper.It's the type of film that would normally be a period drama, here they are telling it more as a comedy, and although it's not very funny, it's still a good movie. Of particular note is the cinematography and score, the colours and jazz backdrop the film perfectly and give you the feel of the era, while keeping the feeling of the film light."Leatherheads" works because it's a fun story, not laugh-out-loud funny, but still enjoyable and it never gets dark or serious.

The sets and costumes were wonderful as was the cast, but the story's so thin as to be non-existent. The few plot points that there are really don't get developed much, and you're left caring little or nothing for any of the characters or events.The film has a great "look" but that's about it. It's very slow getting started and then peters out and ends without anybody even noticing. It just has zero substance. The only real conflict in the film is so minor (a veteran embellishing his war record) as to strain credulity that a reporter would be assigned to nothing else but checking that out. Then the resolution to that was so self-evident and anti-climactic as to put one to sleep. The story just yawns from beginning to end.I think they really need to try a little harder...