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Leatherheads

A plucky play that takes its eyes off the ball
By TOM MEEK  |  April 9, 2008
2.5 2.5 Stars
Leatherhead1s2_inside
TACKLED: George Clooney glorifies the good ol' days of American football.

Behind the camera and in front of it, George Clooney has glorified screwjobs (Chuck Barris) and romanticized bygone eras (Murrow versus McCarthy). Here he does both, tackling the early days of pro football when it was more of a circus spectacle than a game of skill. The premise, cooked up by two SI scribes, has post-WWI pro pigskin on the verge of collapse, so Clooney’s “Dodge” Connolly, an aging man boy who wants a few more snaps, contrives a scheme to bring heralded Princeton halfback and national war hero Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford ( John Krasinski) into the huddle. Fans and funds run flush until details of Carter’s wartime heroics come under fire from can-do gal reporter Lexie Littleton (Renée Zellweger). The ensuing love triangle and male rivalry don’t hold much mud, but the themes of economic uncertainty and sports scandal (Spygate, anyone?) echo the now. It’s a plucky play that never quite runs to daylight. 114 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Circle + suburbs
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