Leatherheads

[Chef]

http://www.leatherheadsmovie.com

Sorry if this is a db.

I am very, very anxious for this to come out.

 

[buckweaver]

I love George Clooney. I especially love the way his interest in history, journalism and sociology show up in his movies.

But I fear this is going to be a bust. Just can't see Renee Zellweger (who I can't stand as an actress anyway) pulling off a, umm, female sports writer in the 1920s. As if they existed.

I'll see it, of course. Love any movie that's set in the 1920s, and I'm anxious to see if they pulled the period off as well as, say, Chicago -- another light-hearted flick that didn't take itself seriously. So I'm interested in it ... just don't see how it's going to be any good, and that sucks.

 

[PHINJ]

Two of my relatives are in this movie. I'm not really optimistic about box-office success.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Two of my relatives are in this movie. I'm not really optimistic about box-office success.

If Clooney can't make Michael Clayton a hit, this one will bomb.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Two of my relatives are in this movie. I'm not really optimistic about box-office success.

Does one imply the other?

 

[part-timer]

And Rick Reilly co-wrote the screenplay. Just sayin'.

 

[Steak Snabler]

I'm interested to see this one. George Clooney rarely makes a bad movie (in the last 10 years, anyway) and both films he's directed (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Good Night and Good Luck) have been pretty good.

Like some of you, I don't buy the Zellweger-as-sportswriter angle. But in this one, perhaps she'll bring more to the table than she did in "Cinderella Man," where she not only spent the whole movie looking like she'd been sucking on a lemon, but inexplicably turned against her husband's career choice halfway through. (Has there ever been a boxing movie where there wasn't a woman trying to talk her man out of getting in the ring?)

I love movies set in the pre-WWII era, particulary sports movies. Cinderella Man, Seabiscuit, Eight Men Out --- all were well-done.

Not sure how Leatherheads will do at the box office. For football movies, in general, the worse they are (The Waterboy, The Longest Yard remake, Remember the Titans), the better they do. So I suppose I'm hoping Leatherheads does poorly ...

 

[novelist_wannabe]

I don't get the disdain for Zellwegger. Always liked her. And I'm looking forward to this movie.

As for the female sportswriter/20s thing ... were there actually any?

 

[friend of a friend]

Saw the trailer a month or so ago.

I will not be paying money to see this movie.

 

[terrier]

I heard Clooney and Steven Soderburgh have been poking around the idea of a remake of "Grand Prix." There's a challenge - 40 years later, there still hasn't been a better racing film. Many of the techniques you see in TV racing coverage today were copped from that movie.

 

[Montezuma's Revenge]

Saw the trailer a month or so ago.

I will not be paying money to see this movie.

Amen.

Looks horrific.

 

[Cadet]

As for the female sportswriter/20s thing ... were there actually any?

They were VERY few and far between, and they sure as hell wouldn't have been sleeping with the players they covered. That's why I hate these movies: They always make it seem like the female sportswriter is there to hook up with players/coaches/owners.

 

[slappy4428]

And Rick Reilly co-wrote the screenplay. Just sayin'.

Predictable?

 

[Bubbler]

I heard Clooney and Steven Soderburgh have been poking around the idea of a remake of "Grand Prix." There's a challenge - 40 years later, there still hasn't been a better racing film. Many of the techniques you see in TV racing coverage today were copped from that movie.

That would be ... awesome.

IF they got the same access Frankenheimer got in the 60s to real tracks, drivers -- hell, real races -- which won't happen. Almost of the footage used in Grand Prix was real because the FIA let them put a camera car in the races.

IF they significantly alter the actual plot, which is soap opera swarmy as far as any plot points not having to do with racing. Eve Marie Saint's histrionics when Sartee dies is worth a Charlton Heston overacting standing ovation.

 

[Babyjay]

Who cares about plot? I will be going to this movie to ogle George Clooney and John Krasinski.

 

[didntdoit19]

But I fear this is going to be a bust. Just can't see Renee Zellweger (who I can't stand as an actress anyway) pulling off a, umm, female sports writer in the 1920s. As if they existed.

Her character had the first blog.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Somehow, I don't see this one coming close to, from a similar time frame, "Chariots of Fire."

 

[deskslave]

As for the female sportswriter/20s thing ... were there actually any?

They were VERY few and far between, and they sure as hell wouldn't have been sleeping with the players they covered. That's why I hate these movies: They always make it seem like the female sportswriter is there to hook up with players/coaches/owners.

You mean they're not?

*Ducks*

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Saw it this afternoon and I wasn't floored, but I wasn't bored either. I found it reasonably entertaining, which may say more about me than it does the movie. A few good laughs. Zellweger's character isn't really a sports writer -- she's a newsie doing an expose' on one of the players -- and I didn't think the portrayal was as bad as, say, the girl on "My Boys". The portrayal of sports writers in general adhered to all the stereotypes, which personally I have grown numb to. In fairness, the protrayal of football players also was stereotypical. None of which spoiled my enjoyment of it.

The appearances of several familiar faces -- Stephen Root and the guy who did The Rick commercials -- helped keep it interesting for me, and it occurred to me that everything Zellweger is doing these days seems to be set in the 20s or 30s. Hmmm ...

 

[Dirk Legume]

NW,

thanks for the review...this is exactly the kind of movie review that they all should be. It boils down to "do I think I wasted my money?" None of the rest really matters. "F" the direction, cinemaphotagraphy, or anything else. Novelist knows what matters.