LEATHERHEADS

"Lets just hit each other in the face"

In 1925 College Football drew huge crowds all around America and make some of the players the biggest stars in the country. None was bigger than Princeton's golden boy Carter Rutherford (Kransinki), the star player of the league and a national hero after leaving his studies behind to serve his country in the Great War and then single-handedly forcing a German platoon to surrender without a shot being fired. The professional game didn't far as well however and when veteran Dodge Connolly's (Clooney) team the Duluth Bulldogs is about fold, he approaches Carter's agent CC Frazier (Pryce) with the idea of bringing the star into the professional game. The problem is that all this attention has caught the eye of the Chicago Tribune's star reporter Lexie Littleton (Zellwegger) who has a hunch that Carter can't be whiter than white.

From his humble B-Movie origins, George Clooney's career has transformed himself into a very powerful Hollywood star who can make whatever he wants but could a sports movie set in 1925 be a step too far?

George Clooney's meteoric raise to superstardom is a Hollywood story of its own. From starring in B-Movies like 'Return of the Killer Tomatoes!' and having numerous parts on low rent television shows, his career was transformed by the role of Doug Ross in hit hospital drama 'ER'. This became a stringboard into big Hollywood projects like 'From Dusk 'til Dawn', 'The Peacemaker' and 'One Fine Day' but even when his movie career was at its lowest when he appeared in 'Batman & Robin', it was his first collaboration with Steven Soderbergh for 'Out of Sight' that really pushed him to a new level and in a different direction. From then on the star worked closely with his new friend, setting up their own production company and making the movies that they really wanted to make. With critic and commercial hits like 'Syriana', 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind', 'Good Night, and Good Luck' and the 'Ocean's…' franchise, add to this an Oscar win and you have one of Hollywood biggest players.

In 2002, the actor turned director with 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind' and then followed this with the critically acclaimed 'Good Night, and Good Luck' in 2005 but for his third movie he leaves political drama behind to bring us something that is a lot more whimsical. 'Leatherheads' is a sports movie with a George Clooney touch. Set in 1925, the director and star takes everything he has learnt in shooting two period movies to bring us not only a fantastic recreation of time where America was looking for heroes and dealing with prohibition but create the feel of a movie that could have been produced in the heyday of Hollywood, the 1950s.

George Clooney has always been described as having the classic look of old Hollywood and this serves him well for the role of Dodge Connelly, a forty something professional American football player who has a plan to bring the huge College Football crowds to the beleaguered professional game, he becomes the epitome of Hollywood stardom. The same can be said of his co-star Renée Zellweger. As plucky reporter Lexie Littleton, she has all the hallmarks of 50s Hollywood stardom, capturing the feel of the 20s superbly. Director George Clooney also manages to get similar kids of performances from the rest of his ensemble with standout performances from the American version of 'The Office' star John Krasinski as Carter Rutherford, the always excellent Jonathan Pryce as unscrupulous agent CC Frazier and Stephen Root as drunken sports reporter Suds.

Capturing the 1920s with great skill and mixing it with a quirky and endearing story of how the professional game of American Football really started in the US, 'Leatherheads' is much better than your usual Hollywood sports movie. While it isn't as funny as it could have been but it is instantly likeable and always manages to raise a smile because of the superb performances, the capturing of the era and the quirkiness of the script.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Widescreen 2.35:1 Anamorphic with Dolby Digital 5.1 and dts soundtracks, the transfer is very good.

BONUS FEATURES

Deleted Scenes (8.07 mins)
Watch a montage of deleted or extended scenes but unfortunately the lack of a commentary or introduction to explain why they were cut.

Football's Beginnings: The making of Leatherheads (6.17 mins)
Director George Clooney, producers Grant Heslov and Casey Silver, screenwriters Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly and stars Renée Zellweger and John Krasinski talk about the history of football in the 20s, the problems of recreating the period and recreating the snappy dialogue of the piece.

No Pads, No Fear: Creating the rowdy football scenes (9.14 mins)
Director George Clooney and football consultant Coach TJ Troup talk about the recreation of the early days of professional football in the 20s.

George Clooney: A Leatherheads Prankster (3.31 mins)
Go behind the scenes of George's prank on the team at the end of the shoot.

Visual Effects Sequences (5.47 mins)
Producer Grant Heslov talks about building and recreating the 20s stadiums and period locations for Leatherheads, with original footage and final film for comparison.

Feature Commentary with director George Clooney and producer Grant Heslov
This chatty and informative commentary from the director/star and his producer is one that fans will enjoy. With many a reminiscence and a tale from the filming of the movie, this is a good commentary.

Previews
View trailers for 'Baby Mama', 'The Office', 'Billy Elliot: The Musical' and 'The Scorpion King II: Rise of the Warrior'

OVERALL

The DVD treatment for 'Leatherheads' is one that fans should enjoy. The commentary is good and the featurettes cover most aspects of the film's production, making this a good DVD package.

DVD

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Good Night, and Good Luck

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2008