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• 'Leatherheads' era had many Hoosier teams

George Clooney helms the huddle in "Leatherheads."

Fun but flawed, George Clooney's period football comedy, "Leatherheads," has its moments but falls short of the mark. The film chronicles the Duluth (Minn.) Bulldogs, a team that -- like most pro teams in 1925 -- is on the verge of folding. The public sees the players as men who haven't grown up, playing a game with no rules.

Of course, that's just the way aging star Dodge Connolly (Clooney) likes it. His trickery levels the playing field with younger, stronger but less savvy men. But that's not enough to put fans in the stands. Enter Princeton University star Carter "The Bullet" Rutherford (John Krasinski of "The Office"), a dashing, tall young stud who's also a war hero who has been accepted to Yale Law School.

With the backing of a tycoon (Jonathan Pryce), Dodge lures Carter to the pros, bringing wins, and throngs of paying customers.

But hold the phone: We also have a sassy reporter Lexie Littleton (Renée Zellweger), who has heard that Carter's war story isn't quite as heroic as everyone thinks. So she uses her feminine wiles in an attempt to get the truth.

The film is at its best when it focuses on football and the love triangle. Clooney, who also directed, goes for the Coen Brothers' old-timey "O Brother Where Art Thou?" vibe. The problem is, not everyone else quite gets it.

Clooney has the great goofball facial expressions, but while he hams it up, almost everyone else plays it relatively straight, dampening the Chaplin-esque mood of the piece.

But Krasinski gets it, and his chemistry with Clooney is entertaining, making even a clichéd scene like their fistfight (where they negotiate where not to hit each other) silly fun.

But the film loses momentum when it shifts focus to Carter's war confession and resultant scandal, which leaves Carter and Lexie feeling betrayed.

Not helping is the fact that the film's climax is a dull mudfest of a game, thanks to a new commissioner who injects rules into the game.

The film says some good things about how stuffed shirts ruin the game's purity. And how the media love to tear down their heroes. And how overregulation bogs down today's gridiron product. See the problem?

In trying to say too much, "Leatherheads" loses some of its sepia-toned luster, and becomes just another uneven football flick: not terrible, but capable of so much more.