By Kirk Honeycutt
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) -
George Clooney
But Clooney, the film's director and star, can't make up
his mind how to approach the story. One minute it's a romantic
comedy. Then it switches to slapstick, then to screwball comedy
before sliding into Frank Capra territory with a crusading
female reporter and a phony hero before settling on a gridiron
version of "The Natural," a tall tale about how legends are
made. It's all over the place but never feels comfortable in
its own period clothes.
Trying out all these comic subgenres takes time. The film
overstays its welcome by a good 20 minutes, making the
climactic game feel anti-climactic. Clooney and co-star Renee
Zellweger certainly will lure customers, but story weaknesses
and ill-defined characters will challenge their most ardent
fans to root for anything other than a swift ending. Boxoffice
prospects looks mediocre domestically, and you can forget about
overseas.
The parts never add up. The journalistic aspects are all
stolen from "The Front Page" and "It Happened One Night" and
feel tired. The chases, fisticuffs and pratfalls are
exceedingly lame. And the romances never are convincing. Our
Lexie wouldn't fall for either of these mugs.
The film shifts styles so often that it strips its gears.
Characters turn up, often coincidentally, to push the story
along, but the script by one-time Sports Illustrated colleagues
Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly relies heavily on old movies
and not enough on historical invention. The haphazard nature of
the narrative speaks to the clumsiness of every unlikely plot
turn and character.
Cast:
Dodge Connelly: George Clooney
Lexie Littleton: Renee Zellweger
Carter "The Bullett" Rutherford: John Krasinski
CC Frazier: Jonathan Pryce
Suds: Stephen Root
Coach Ferguson: Wayne Duvall
Commissioner: Peter GeretyDirector: George Clooney; Screenwriters: Duncan Brantley,
Rick Reilly; Producers: Grant Heslov, Casey Silver; Executive
producers: Barbara A. Hall, Jeffrey Silver, Bobby Newmyer,
Sydney Pollack; Director of photography: Newton Thomas Sigel;
Production designer: Jim Bissell; Music: Randy Newman; Costume
designer: Louise Frogley; Editor: Stephen Mirrione.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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