'Leatherheads' fumbles

The movie is set around the year 1925, when the contrast between college football and professional football was probably at its widest. College football was an exciting sport played in a vast stadium, drawing thousands of fans and financial backing, while pro football was relegated to a muddy field that looked like an abandoned park. In the midst of this backdrop, "Leatherheads" features a rough-and-tumble football team, the Duluth Bulldogs, led by its shrewd and ambitious captain, Dodge Connelly (played by leading man, oh-I-am-so-sexy-even-while-tumbling-in-the-mud Clooney, who is perhaps a bit too old even to play an aging football star). Dodge, learning that his team is to be disassembled due to lack of financial backing, decides to save the Bulldogs and pro football in general by enlisting the help of college (ahem, Princeton) football star and war hero, Carter "the Bullet" Rutherford (John Krasinski) to draw in the crowds. To complete the menage a trois, one should never forget the winning formula: Add a quick-witted, nice-legged, woman reporter (Lexie Littleton, played by Renee Zellweger) sent on a mission to rip apart the football world with her latest expose. Oh, the drama!

Sounds all too familiar, now, doesn't it? Hollywood needs to realize that the whole "underdogs overcoming adversity formula with a side dish of romantic tension" is a hackneyed theme that needs to be chucked out of the writers' room all together. Yes, "The Mighty Ducks" made us cheer on our couches and feel good back in the day, but when you hit us constantly with the same bag of tricks, our receptors tend to grow numb.

The acting is also a mediocre affair, though Zellweger does effectively portray the feisty and independent Lexie with the right amount of sting and sweetness. Her character is most definitely a tribute to Rosalind Russell's character Hildy in the movie "His Girl Friday" (one of the original screwball comedies). Also, the chemistry between the pairing permutations of Lexie with Clooney's Dodge and Krasinski's Bullet - and sometimes, both men at once - is more or less palpable. One thought really bothered me throughout the movie, though: How could Lexie ever elicit such amorous advances from both Dodge and Bullet, looking like Renee Zellweger? I know this is mean, but I vividly remember the scene in which her character is first introduced: We hear someone talking, the elevator doors open, and ... Wham! We are confronted with a face that looks like a plum suffering from gout. I literally gasped.

The only refreshing thing about this movie is its presentation. Props to director Clooney, who tackled this pseudo-historical narrative ("Dodge" is based on Johnny "Bloody" McNally, and "the Duluth Bulldogs" are loosely based on the Duluth Eskimos) with a good balance of vaudevillian humor and borderline believability. Through the narrative stance, his intentions are clear: "Leatherheads" is a conscious homage to the popular screwball comedy genre of the 1930s and '40s. Exaggerated acting and cinematography, with the occasional saloon brawls thrown into the mix, help resuscitate the otherwise boring, cliched movie plot. Even the use of the old Universal Pictures logo with its spinning disco globe and shooting stars is a blatant indicator of Clooney's nostalgia for a bygone, classic era.

This movie is vaguely delightful on many levels, especially if you're interested in having a relaxing time at the movies without having to worry about that next problem set. It offers no surprises and a smooth ride with its coherent story arc. Because of its predictability, the movie gets tedious at times, even if you are a football fan and take the origins of professional football seriously. On the whole, a disappointing, if briefly diverting, effort from Clooney after the success of his award-winning 2005 film "Good Night, and Good Luck."

Pros: Chuckle-worthy for its cuteness ... and its conspicuous Princeton references

Cons: Trite.