DVD Review: Leatherheads
You can’t go home again. That is the biggest message I got from watchingLeatherheads on DVD.
I am a big fan of the old romantic comedies of the 1930s and 1940s. Frank Capra is one of my favorite directors. And I applaud George Clooney for attempting to recreate that special time in Hollywood, but in the end, it just did not work.
The movie itself is a respectable comedy. I thought it had some funny scenes and the performances were admirable. George Clooney did his best, but he does not quite measure up to Clark Gable or Cary Grant. Renee Zellweger was charming, but she was no Jean Arthur or Barbara Stanwyck. John Krasinski did show plenty of boyish charm, but Jimmy Stewart he was not. For example, there is a scene set in a sleeper car on a train, and while the dialogue is snappy and the timing impeccable, it just felt false, like a caricature of ‘realscrewball comedy’. By the way, I hate that term.
To me, the biggest obstacle for a movie like this made today is the obvious comparisons to the old stars, the old scripts, and the old directors. When Capra filmed his movies, he was not trying to capture a certain feel. He just did what came natural. Leatherheads just did not feel natural. Which is too bad, but as I said in the beginning, you can’t go home again. But maybe that is just me.
One of the things I love about DVDs are the Bonus Features. I always watch them. I find the art of making movies fascinating, and I hope that some of these bonus features can give me some insight into the work itself. These Bonus Features were mostly boring. The deleted scenes should have remained deleted, and the ‘making of’ feature was not so much about how the movie was made as to what it cost. The only interesting part was a Visual Effects Sequence that showed a scene from the movie in a split screen with the original film on one side, and the computer enhanced version on the other side. You would not think that a movie set in the 1920s would not require much CGI, but surprisingly, it did. It makes me wonder exactly how much of every movie these days are CGI and how much is real. I guess it doesn’t matter, as long as the CGI is done well, remains invisible to the viewer, and is not a distraction.
I would recommend skipping most of the bonus features and just watching the Visual Effects one. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
October 3rd, 2008 at 10:47 pm
The previews make me think it’s a campy movie. It’s definately on my “if nothing else is out” dvd rental list.
October 5th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
All I can say is FUMBLE!!!!!! This movie was not good at all, I was disappointed I missed it in the theater initially – but after catching it on DVD, I am glad I didn’t spend a penny on gas or a ticket. All the actors tried to hard, and it showed, and whoever did Zelwegger’s makeup was clearly pissed off at her on the set. Was it just me or did she look so splotchy that even a straight red-blooded American boy could tell something was wrong? If someone buys you this because they know you “love football” please kindly tell them a lump of coal in your stocking would be well preferred. Stephen Root was the only decent actor in the whole film, and the music was period, but lacking, I am sure with the gangland era and prohibition there were some good authentic choices the Director could have chosen. Just PUNT this one right out of your DVD collection.