Run Fatboy Run - C, Leatherheads - B-

2 of the biggest DVD releases this week are the sports-based Run Fatboy Run and Leatherheads. As the biggest fan of Hot Fuzz around these parts, I decided to give Run Fatboy Run a shot despite the fact that it did not originate from actor Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright was nowhere to be found. The film is directed by David Schwimmer and has no real style (or substance). Schwimmer settles for predictable pratfalls and dick jokes, suitable for a run-of-the-mill Adam Sandler movie . . .

Late in the film, Pegg asks the object of his desire (and mine) Thandie Newton, “What do you see in him?” Him being Hank Azaria, Pegg’s rival in love, life, and a marathon. You’ll be asking yourself what Newton ever saw or sees in Pegg. He’s admittedly lazy, complacent, unreliable, and out of shape. He smokes in public and has no career or future. Pegg is a likable performer but only the most charismatic of superstars could overcome this premise, where he will win her back if he runs a marathon. Azaria’s character acts so uncharacteristic and inconsistent in the interminable third act that it invalidates everything that preceded it. The camera and boom mike love Newton, but she’s given nothing else to do except look stunning (that’s enough). There are some laughs (mostly involving Pegg’s foul-mouthed overweight landlord), but the story is too predictable and thin to really engage.

For the first half of Leatherheads, director and star George Clooney keeps a pretty good pace with snappy dialogue, witty retorts, and solid performances. Then he tries to make it a message movie about how war is confusing and our war heroes are rarely heroic, just lucky. He wants to tell us that it’s not OK to print the legend as it was in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. We are responsible for the truth and damn the American people for “needing” heroes. Clooney is an outspoken opponent of the Iraq War but even I was surprised as he continually crapped all over the American military scene after scene in the second half.

Isn’t this a sports movie about the origins of professional football? Partially, and those are the parts that work best. It's an interesting subject and Clooney’s obvious admiration of 1930s-40s screwball comedies keeps the film afloat for much of the running time. But when expert football player (John Krasinski) and his war hero status is exposed as a fraud by reporter Renee Zellweger, the film loses steam quickly. The lanky Krasinski is not believable as the "best athlete in the country", and his acting abilities range from “Happy Jim in The Office Season 4” to “Sad Jim in The Office Season 2”. Zellweger tries her best Rosalind Russell impression and is mostly successful. But she’s not quite as good as the last time someone tried it: Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Coen Brothers’ The Hudsucker Proxy.

Indeed, the Coen imprint can be found on frame after frame. Clooney has now acted in 3 of their films (he calls it the Idiot Trilogy) and the over the top facial expressions and line deliveries certainly recall Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and Intolerable Cruelty. (Still haven’t seen Burn After Reading – thanks Hurricane Ike). He creates great visuals and places the camera in interesting places (e.g. the long shot when Krasinski and Clooney fistfight and the verticality of Clooney with Zellweger escaping from a window). His second directorial effort, Good Night, and Good Luck scored him an Oscar nomination for best director. That film ran 93 minutes. This one clocks in at 114 minutes and would have perhaps played better with 20 minutes shaved. Clooney let his great supporting cast (especially David Straitharn) shine in GNaGL, but seems unwilling to let anyone break through here. All of the supporting performances are instantly forgettable and he even lets himself win the game and get the girl. Oh Self-Esteem, Where Art Thou?

Run Fatboy Run: C Leatherheads: B-