Stuck in the Mud

email this story
read comments (24)
post a comment

Average Joes don't want to know from Leatherheads reviews -- Thursday's tracking suggests that George Clooney's period football comedy will do about $20 million this weekend -- but if they did they'd be sullen. The Rotten Tomatoes creme de la creme has given it a lousy 33% positive and the non-elite has passed along a dispiriting 53% positive.

That said, it's only fair to acknowledge that Leatherheads has a guy-buried-in- mud gag in the final act that's pretty good. Even though I'll bet Clooney stole it from a similar bit in Henry Hathaway's North to Alaska. During a big slapstick street fight at the end, Ernie Kovacs, playing a card-shark villain, gets thrown into a pond of quicksand-like mud and is half-submerged. Then a big wooden barrel rolls on top of him and buries him completely. Not that there's anything wrong with theft. The best artists do it.

Like I said on 3.31, a comedy "without a serious foundation can feel too much like a jape, and so the mood humor in Leatherheads has a kind of ceiling. You want to give yourself over to it, but you can't. The movie won't let you. Because it only wants to make you feel good and spritzy, after a while it almost makes you feel a little bit bad. Even though it's mostly 'likable.' A curious effect."

House Brought Down<< previous | next >>Brody's "Auteur Wars"

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 3, 2008 at 5:13 PM

comment #1

le corbeau says ...

I kind of want to see The Ruins. After skipping the last 3,783 movies about model-pretty people in grotesque peril, I kind of feel like seeing the one good one.

Posted by le corbeau at April 3, 2008 5:58 PM

comment #2

breadlymoore says ...

"the non-elite"

Yikes.

Posted by breadlymoore at April 3, 2008 6:04 PM

comment #3

kidkosmic says ...

George may or may not sell magazines, but he has yet to open films on his name/mug alone.

Posted by kidkosmic at April 3, 2008 7:20 PM

comment #4

p.Vice says ...

The negative reviews are likely encouraging more and more people to see it. They know it's not one of Clooney's smarty-pants movies so maybe they'll actually like this one.

Posted by p.Vice at April 3, 2008 7:48 PM

comment #5

D.Z. says ...

kidko: He opened Three Kings and The Perfect Storm, and probably kept Batman and Robin from bombing, but that's about it.

Posted by D.Z. at April 3, 2008 8:14 PM

comment #6

Edward says ...

I'm interested, because I respect the man as a film maker. Is there another filmmaker today who can easily move between mainstream and art (on both sides of the camera) like Clooney has?

Posted by Edward at April 3, 2008 9:00 PM

comment #7

Movie fan09 says ...

jeff-
get out of my head!
na, feel free to stay as long as you like.
there's root beer in the fridge and some iced oatmeal cookies in the cupboard.

Posted by Movie fan09 at April 3, 2008 9:36 PM

comment #8

le corbeau says ...

So they made three of those damn Ocean movies because Clooney isn't a glamorous star?

Yeah, yeah, they're ensemble pieces. Riiiiight. Because there's so much great acting going on in them.

Posted by le corbeau at April 3, 2008 10:24 PM

comment #9

D.Z. says ...

Mgmax: I'd say Julia Roberts was probably bigger than the rest of the cast combined for the first two films. Ocean's 13 was the ensemble film.

Posted by D.Z. at April 4, 2008 12:38 AM

comment #10

D.Z. says ...

Oh, and I forgot about Brad Pitt. Yeah, he was a bigger draw than Clooney.

Posted by D.Z. at April 4, 2008 12:39 AM

comment #11

Edward Havens says ...

Blah. Leatherheads was fun.

Posted by Edward Havens at April 4, 2008 12:50 AM

comment #12

bmcintire says ...

I still have hope for THE RUINS. The only online review of it that I have been able to find is from "Capone" on AICN. Having stayed away from that site for so long, I can't remember whether or not to trust the guy (though he admitted he went into it expecting to hate it). Seeing it tomorrow night at the Arclight regardless. How sad is it to admit that this is really the only summer movie I am looking forward to, and it's nowhere close to summer?

Posted by bmcintire at April 4, 2008 1:50 AM

comment #13

le corbeau says ...

I think people go to the Oceans movies because of residual affection for Elliot Gould from S*P*Y*S and Getting Straight, too.

Nonsense. Clooney-- like Stallone or William Shatner-- may only have one role in which he's a star who can open a movie, but Ocean is indisputably it, the whole thing depends on our buying the idea that Clooney is old school glamorous enough to be the Sinatra of our time. He is and it works-- at least at the box office.

Posted by le corbeau at April 4, 2008 4:58 AM

comment #14

actionman says ...

For the most part, Capone over at AICN can be trusted I think.

Will catch The Ruins on dvd. Still not sure on Leatherheads. Shine A Light IMAX comes first, then that one...

Finally saw The Mist last night; not bad, some good gory fun, but wow -- that ending was daaaaark. Is that the way it ends in the book?

Posted by actionman at April 4, 2008 7:42 AM

comment #15

bill weber says ...

The mud gag is one of about five laughs in the movie.

Posted by bill weber at April 4, 2008 7:54 AM

comment #16

Rich S. says ...

actionman, as I recall, the book The Mist doesn't really end. It just sort of stops, with the characters facing the great unknown. I'm sure Darabont says something about it in the extras on the DVD.

It's one of the reasons why I never understood the great fuss over the novella.

Posted by Rich S. at April 4, 2008 8:34 AM

comment #17

clancy says ...

The real big Clooney news of the day is that he has gone financial core with the WGA - perhaps creating a flood of other high profile members leaving the flock after the fiasco that was the strike.

Posted by clancy at April 4, 2008 10:05 AM

comment #18

clancy says ...

The real big Clooney news of the day is that he has gone financial core with the WGA - perhaps creating a flood of other high profile members leaving the flock after the fiasco that was the strike.

Posted by clancy at April 4, 2008 10:06 AM

comment #19

George Prager says ...

The LEATHERHEADS commercials compliment the Applebees and Chilis commercials that they are sandwiched between. My parents are there. They might not like it much, but it won't give them a coronary, and they won't feel like they're missing something good when they get up to go to the bathroom.

Posted by George Prager at April 4, 2008 10:24 AM

comment #20

George Prager says ...

There was an episode of "Banacek" where a pile-up happens during a football game and when the players untangle and stand up and shake themselves off, the guy who had the ball has disappeared.

Posted by George Prager at April 4, 2008 10:27 AM

comment #21

Terry McCarty says ...

Nikki Finke has spoken re Friday's estimated $4.3 million gross for LEATHERHEADS:
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/clooney-fumbles-opening-of-leatherheads/#comments

Posted by Terry McCarty at April 5, 2008 1:34 AM

comment #22

K. Bowen says ...

I think people are misunderstanding the film. I't does things and has interests in filmmaking in a way that a Judd Apatow dick comedy does not. The speakeasy scene that evolves into keystone kops and then into a romantic moment is pretty audacious. And desrves appreciation on that level.

Posted by K. Bowen at April 5, 2008 7:50 AM

comment #23