Oscar winners George Clooney and Renee Zellweger go head-to-head in a quick-witted romantic comedy set against the backdrop of America's nascent pro-football league in 1925.
The billing alone ought to sell the film - George Clooney and Renee Zellweger reads like a dream ticket. Unfortunately, this really is the wrong vehicle - set in the roaring 1920s using an old-fashioned slapstick style, the film follows Zellweger's sassy journalist as she attempts to uncover the truth behind a young football star's incredible war record. However, her sharp tongue and swift repostes to anything any man says to her is over the top and adds to the general feeling that the film is way over-stylised. Meanwhile Clooney comes across as a somewhat vain clown, unbelievable as a 45-year old football team captain with his boyish good looks and slender physique. Clooney's has-been eventually gets the girl (Zellweger) once it becomes apparent that the young upstart war hero is not as brave as it would seem. However, this predictable outcome does not occur before the viewer is subjected to a very unoriginal series of exchanges in which Clooney flirts and Zellweger plays it cool. This simply does not amount to on-screen chemistry and really hits the nail on the head as to why this movie doesn't work - it's simply too contrived and lacking in soul. The physical humour adds to this feeling, for example Clooney gets into a punch up lasting apparently hours without so much as a cut to the face. The police chase sequence in particular borders on the childish and makes you realise why audiences moved on from this kind of thing many decades ago. The football scenes are little different - everyone runs around like characters in a Buster Keaton film, with lots of mud flying and legs in the air - you get the idea. The tension of the final match admittedly raises the game a little, even for non-sport fans, but you come away from the film feeling somewhat disappointed that two stars like this could allow themselves to get involved in such a lumbering, over-stylised and frankly disconnected film.
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Comedy, in the 'screwball' style of the 1930s, directed by and starring George Clooney. Set in the 1920s, the film stars Clooney as Dodge Connolly, a brazen yet charming American Football captain who is determined to guide his team to glory. However, his plans suffer a major blow when the players lose their sponsor and the future of the entire league is subsequently thrown into doubt. But when Dodge convinces college football star Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski) to join the team, he hopes that the struggling new sport will finally capture the nation's attention. Carter is a war hero who single-handedly forced a group of German soldiers to surrender in the First World War. His good looks and incredible speed on the field make him seem almost too good to be true, and reporter Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger) sets out to prove just that.
An aging football star habours dreams of making his team go professional and sets all his hopes on a promising young player whose story may or may not be true.
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