Welcome to the Box Office! In this weekly feature, I’ll look at each week’s wide releases, summarize their plots (i.e. pasting from imdb.com), and give my opinion of whether or not they’re worth your 8 dollars (or whatever godawful price they’re charging these days).This week has a few new releases, each appealing to a different set of moviegoers:
“Leatherheads” – starring George Clooney, Renée Zellweger, & John Krasinski
Plot summary – A romantic comedy set against the backdrop of America’s nascent pro-football league in 1925. Dodge Connolly, a charming, brash football hero, is determined to guide his team from bar brawls to packed stadiums. But after the players lose their sponsor and the entire league faces certain collapse, Dodge convinces a college football star to join his ragtag ranks. This new champ is almost too good to be true, and Lexie Littleton aims to prove that’s the case. A cub journalist playing in the big leagues, Lexie is a spitfire newswoman who suspects there are holes in Carter’s war story. As the new game of pro-football becomes less like the freewheeling sport he knew and loved, Dodge must both fight to keep his guys together and to get the girl of his dreams.
My take – I saw this movie yesterday, but I’ll spare you from a review. Let me just say that the period aspect of the movie (it’s set in the late 1920s) certainly adds to its appeal to me. I like the vintage styles and the classic look at football that we usually don’t get to see this side of ESPN Classic.