George Clooney is busy angling for an Oscar nomination and being all serious right now, but come April we’re going to see the smiling, charming, to-die-for Clooney we’ve been missing. Plus he’s throwing John Krasinski into the mix. Oh, and old-timey football.
The movie in question is Leatherheads, which has been delayed for a little while but will finally see release on April 4. It’s a screwball comedy set in the 20’s, when screwball comedies were born, and it takes place in the brand-new world of professional football. There’s a trailer up on Yahoo! Movies that has all the screwball comedy elements: a love triangle, witty repartee, male rivalry, and plenty of slapstick.
I know we’ve all been burned by sports comedies in the past, but George Clooney’s last effort as a director (Good Night, and Good Luck) turned out pretty well, and there is no actor today more suited to play a 20’s –era hunk. He’s a coach and player for a team that’s trying turn football into a legitimate sport, and he hires a young star (Krasinski) to help the team. In grand screwball tradition, though, he and the young guy find themselves fighting over the same sassy newspaper reporter (Renee Zellweger). Never mind the 18-year age difference between the two. George Clooney is fierce competition for any woman’s heart, and we all know it.
I have very mixed feelings about Renee Zellweger, but I trust her to do just fine here. If the trailer is any indication, the movie is mostly about the football and the macho rivalry anyway. So hey, it won’t be The Philadelphia Story, but the trailer made me laugh. Check it out for yourselves here.
