I am a huge fan of screwball comedies, they're some of my favourite films ever. Sadly though it seems most modern attempts to give it a go fall flat on their face. So it was with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation (why is it always a mixture? - Private joke ) that I approached George Clooney's latest film, which makes an attempt in this very dated genre.

It just about works, but for contrary reasons - I think I like it because it doesn't do *all* the things screwball comedies do (it's not rapier-like back and forth, for example, it's not trying to be fast-paced which is where so many fall down, the slapstick is more general, etc.) but then I don't *love* it probably because it's not proper screwball (the focus of the film is not solely the romantic couple, the way it is in Bringing Up Baby, The Awful Truth, The Lady Eve, It Happened One Night, etc., etc. where it's the couple all the way through, it's not consistently hilarious, etc.).

What it is though is a gentle homage and it's a very nice watch. The set up is that it is the mid-1920s and pro-American football is a joke in comparison with the college game. George Clooney plays an ageing pro player, who when his latest side is on the brink of bankruptcy entices war hero-come college star John Krasinski (from the American version of The Office) to play for his team and boost revenue. The spanner in the works comes in the form of Renée Zellweger who is a reporter dispatched to uncover the hoax of Krasinski's war heroics so that she can land an assitant-editor's job.

So a lot of screwball elements are there. It's consistently amusing (but not laugh-out-loud funny) and all three are very watchable in this. The best moments are Zellweger and Clooney, in a way this is where the non-screwballness of it is less satisfactory as Renée is out to gun down John and not George (so opposite to the way the plots of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and The Lady Eve work, for example) so has no real change of heart about the guy she's after. Instead we see a very nice development of her and Clooney's relationship which works but does leave you hanging for more.

This is because the other aspect of the plot is the old veteran vs. new kid in Clooney and Krasinski. It's fine but not as engaging as the other half of the story so suffers a bit in comparison and when the two sides of the plot converge in a quasi-love triangle (not quite in the vein of The Philadelphia Story as there are no previous ties to the characters) you wish they'd have bulked up Zellweger and Krasinski a bit to balance it out. The slapstick fights get more amusing as they go, the ensemble is good (especially Jonathan Pryce as Krasinski's representative), it's beautifully shot and the period is evoked well through sets and costumes (Renée's hats are wonderful and sadly underused, just like her).

This isn't a great film, but it's a sweet one which doesn't aim too high, thereby ensuring it doesn't reach all it's potential, but equally makes certain it doesn't miss. Clooney doesn't go into full zany mode as he's done before (thankfully), Zellweger is much more fun and far less overly theatric than she's generally been post-Chicago and Krasinski has a lovely demeanour which suits the character down to the ground. In short, I liked it - it's a welcomely inoffensive diversion, which is quite fun and contains a kiss and a chase to die for.