That's about the biggest laugh "Leatherheads" musters, and it's never a promising sign when the best moment in a movie comes at the outset. In a nod to the fast-talking journalists of such screwball-comedy classics as "The Philadelphia Story" and "His Girl Friday," Zellweger's Chicago Tribune reporter Lexie Littleton comes on the scene to ferret out the real story of golden boy Carter. Touted as a World War I hero who single-handedly forced the surrender of a trench full of Germans, Carter seems the ideal poster boy to sell football tickets. But Lexie's editor has an inside scoop that Carter's war record may not be so shiny. Also in line with the ghosts of screwball past, Lexie ends up in a romantic triangle involving pretty boy Carter and wily Dodge. Jonathan Pryce complicates the action for everyone as CC Frazier, Carter's oily agent. The cast, particularly Clooney and Zellweger, deliver their lines in a suitably curt and affected style reminiscent of the lightning patter of 1930s comedies. Yet the dialogue itself is surprisingly bland given that the screenplay comes from former Sports Illustrated reporters Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, the latter known as one of sportswriting's premier humorists. Here and there, Clooney and his collaborators craft some funny sight gags, and the visual trappings are superb, from the grand hotel lobbies and muddy football fields to the chugging trains and slightly ratty motorcycle and sidecar Dodge drives. Randy Newman, the man behind such period scores as "Ragtime," "Seabiscuit" and "The Natural," has created another lively musical backdrop for "Leatherheads." And the movie is filled with colorful character actors, a screwball-comedy staple, notably Clooney's "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" colleagues Stephen Root and Wayne Duvall. With all of that going for it, "Leatherheads" just never streaks downfield. Actor Clooney is lovable, but filmmaker Clooney can't quite give the story the spark it needs, and he falls back repetitively on gimmicky black-and-white photos and newspaper headlines to make transitions from scene to scene. The film leaves you longing for a few Hail Mary end-zone passes, while the filmmakers stick to a story that tries to pound it out with a safe, tedious ground game.
"Leatherheads," a Universal release, is rated PG-13 for brief strong language. Running time: 114 minutes. Two stars out of four.