The elements are all there. We have the swaggering, older gentleman who has everything he wants in life, except the girl. There’s the strong-willed, driven career woman who has risen to the top of a man’s world but still does not have a man. Throw in a naïve, all-American young man in need of some maturing, a despicable rich guy, zany supporting characters, witty dialogue and a few good fights, and you have the makings of a 1940s screwball comedy.

Except the movie I’m describing is actually Leatherheads, George Clooney’s latest directorial outing.

The year is 1925, and absolutely no one cares about professional football; teams are bankrupt and players are finding themselves out of jobs. Coach Jimmy “Dodge” Connelly (George Clooney), in the face of losing everything he loves, makes a last ditch effort to legitimize football: he recruits for his team Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski), star football player for Princeton and a decorated WWI hero. Or is he (a war hero, that is)? Reporter Lexie Littleton (Renée Zellweger) tags along with the team, hoping to get a scoop on the true story of Rutherford’s courage. Will she learn the truth? Will she find herself in a love triangle with the two male leads? Will everything turn out all right in the end? Can you doubt it?

By opening Leatherheads with the classic 1940s Universal logo, George Clooney immediately establishes what he, along with writers Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, is trying to do: Make a movie that captures the feel and conventions of a screwball comedy reminiscent of that logo’s era. And Leatherheads is most definitely a success when it comes to achieving this aim.

The acting and delivery across the board harkens back to the more stylized, affected performances of Hollywood’s golden age. The film’s dialogue is impossibly witty across the board, giving the film and its stars a quality of slick cleverness that is very enjoyable. Broad physical comedy is in abundance in several bar fights, the numerous football games and one particularly funny police chase, complete with ridiculous disguises and plenty of slamming doors. Finally, Leatherhead’s subject matter is relatively inoffensive, with much of the “racy” material being insinuated and suggested rather than shown outright.

Simply because the performances are affected does not mean that they are not effective. Clooney, who is often called one of the last great movie stars, lives up to that moniker as the cocky but lovable Connelly. Zellweger plays Littleton with plenty of sass and strength. Of course, two such headstrong characters are natural love interests in this kind of movie, and the chemistry between them is fantastic; this sort of dynamic is the closest we can get to Tracy and Hepburn in the modern day.

Krasinski, in his first significant film role, gives a solid, “aw shucks” performance as Rutherford, the wide-eyed college kid who has greatness of all kinds thrust upon him; Jimmy Stewart he is not, but he proves that he is more than the sarcasm and smirks we see on “The Office.” Jonathan Pryce makes a fine, understated appearance as CC Frazier, Rutherford’s ruthless promoter, and is the closest thing the movie has to a villain.

As a fan of old Hollywood movies, I enjoyed Leatherheads immensely. But as this film takes most, if not all, of its cues from those movies, if you are not a fan of old Hollywood, its style, or its conventions, you probably will not be a fan of this movie. But for anyone looking for an engaging, entertaining piece of nostalgia, Leatherheads is what you want.