Leatherheads (2008) -vs- A League of Their Own (1992)

For Love of the Game

The Smackdown. Here's your formula. Throw in some Americana about major league sports in times of transition, give us some of the money men who just don't understand the players' true love of the game, center the story with a leading man who plays a boozy ranconteur and then split apart the central players on each team so they can play opposite each other in a final climactic game. No doubt coming soon to a theater near you: the story of an NBA team in the 1950s... but that's another Smackdown...

The Challenger. "Leatherheads" is director George Clooney's homage to the great old days when football wasn't about money but about men getting covered in mud and bashing their brains in. He plays wise-cracking running back Dodge Connolly who conspires to get a college hotshot Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski) recruited to his pro team only to fall in love with the equally wise-cracking reporter Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger) who's following them with an eye to writing a tough investigative story about Rutherford. If it feels like two different stories, and if you know that hijinks ensue and a rom-com triangle has to be sorted out, you've got the movie down cold.

The Defending Champion. Back when the Clinton running for President was a guy named Bill, "A League of Their Own" director Penny Marshall whipped up this frothy concoction from a script by comedy superstar writers Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. This time the sport in transition is baseball -- during World War II when the men were all fighting Germans and Japanese -- and the women had to step in. The All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League stuck around to 1954 and had to wait for Title 9 to get women back in the game. In any case, Tom Hanks anchored the cast full of big names like Geena Davis, Madonna, and Rosie O'Donnell and uttered the line that made the film famous: "There's no crying in baseball."

The Scorecard. There's no doubt that "A League of Their Own" is a sweeter picture, remembered fondly.  But I just watched it again and the schmaltz factor nearly gave me a cavity watching it. The bookend scenes with old Geena are gag-me awful, the direction of Penny Marshall is far from inspiring and the baseball seems often incomprehensible. Yet Hanks does have that famous line...

On the other hand, "Leatherheads" roars into the theaters with Hollywood's hottest actor/director/writer in charge, George Clooney. Well, strike the writer part -- it seems that after losing a Writers Guild arbitration, Clooney has gone "financial core," essentially withdrawing from the union. I've won and lost WGA arbitrations myself and, if George had summoned me to his estate in Italy for consultation, I would have urged him to chill. Now, having seen the film, I think he should send the WGA a thank-you card. The script is not good: confused, unfocused and sometimes odd. But Clooney's direction is first-rate and, even though he's over-acting on purpose, he's damn charming as usual.

The Decision.  "A League of Their Own" is fondly remembered because it does seem to have one thing that "Leatherheads" doesn't -- moments of authentic emotion. But that emotion is so highly manipulated and unsubtle that it hasn't aged well at all. "Leatherheads" will probably prove more durable in the rental market because it clearly doesn't set out to be anything more than an improbable romantic-comedy homage to the screwball comedies of yesteryear. It will still be that next year and probably will continue to hold up even when Chelsea Clinton is running for President. You don't have to run out to the theaters to see this film, but if you're looking for a little nostalgic sports viewing, now or later, your choice is going to be "Leatherheads."

Comments

[Robert A. Nowotny]

Well done review with a decision that surprised me. I'll have to go out and see LEATHERHEDS now.

Chelsea Clinton running for President???