The Martini Shot

Genre: Romantic Comedy & Sports Comedy     

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language

Running Time: 1 hr. 54 min.

Release Date: April 4th, 2008 (wide)

Starring: George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, John Krasinski

Directed by: George Clooney

I’ll admit that I am a sucker for a good romantic comedy, so I approached this film with great anticipation. It also helped that the dashing George Clooney and the stunning Renee Zellweger were there in the theater to introduce the film. But once the lights went down and the film began with the old, grainy Universal logo, I became prepared for the classic screwball comedy that was to come.

Set in 1925, Clooney plays Dodge Connolly, an aging professional football player, during a time when professional football was in its infancy. After several teams including his own Duluth Bulldogs fold because of lack of funding, Dodge comes up with a brilliant plan to bring more attention and money to professional football. Enter John Krasinski as Carter Rutherford, handsome young Princeton football star and war hero to boot. It seems that his remarkable ability to single-handedly coerce several German soldiers to surrender during World War I has made him a national hero and earned him legions of fans on the football field as well. Dodge manages to convince Carter to go pro and join his revived team. Joining Carter in this new adventure is Renee Zellweger’s Lexie Littleton. A smart and sassy reporter in a age before women’s liberation, she is sent to find out the real deal on Carter’s war record.

The homage to old Hollywood screwball comedies is most evident in the dynamic between Dodge and Lexie, think Hepburn and Grant in Bringing Up Baby. Their first meeting is the typical “meet cute” and they appear almost hostile to each other in the beginning. The banter between them is quick, but not so quick that it seems strange and out of place in today’s world, but the scenes between the two of them do not match the way the dialogue is delived in the rest of the film. There is also the “secret” that must not get out that is typical of this genre. It is definitely an entertaining film with actors that are fun to watch, but in my opinion the plot needed to be streamlined just a bit. It seemed unfocused at times with too many subplots going on at the same time for a simple comedy.

Rating: 7/10 – great funny moments between Zellweger and Clooney, but an unfocused plot and inconsistent dialogue gets in the way of making it a great screwball comedy