Leatherheads

I'm not certain why this film is getting the pasting it is, because it certainly doesn't deserve it.

It's a, by all accounts, fairly accurate if somewhat embellished story of how football (or American football to us limeys) became the nation's favourite sport. It starts in 1925 and immediately highlights the difference between college football with their young stars and thousands of spectators and "professional" football where the players travel the country, trying to make enough money to buy food, board and train fair to their next game.

Dodge Connolly (George Clooney) has a plan to get the game into the big time, by borrowing an up and coming war hero turned college football star Carter Rutherford, who has his face advertising everything from shaving razors to gasoline. However Rutherford is hiding a secret and reporter Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellwegger) is out to bust him.

Where the film does drag is the whole war hero part, which seems to be included only to alternate between it and the football story. I think it works though, because the only other reasonable story that could be focussed on is the romance between Dodge and Lexie, which I think would have been distracting rather than diverting.

Is this film trying to be "Welcome to Colinwood"? Well, I don't know, I've never seen it. But it's very well shot, the sets are very impressive and the story's quite good. The problem seems to be that it's a historical film about a sport that few in the UK care about. As such, its main hook for the audience doesn't work well. Take a look at the UK trailer. There's not one mention of football at all, and it appears to be marketed as a romantic comedy, which it certainly isn't. It is funny, and it does have romance, but it's mainly about a handful of players and the birth of a national game.

Oh, and in case you were wondering where the film's name comes from, it's because in the 1920s all players wore leather helmets during the game.

Score: C
It's not a great film by any standards, but I found it enjoyable and worth a look. This commentary may be marred by the fact that because of my Cineworld pass, I didn't pay £6 to see it.

OQ: There has to be a better way to advertise starch...