If Clooney seems drawn to this genre, it's not just because he has fine taste and a healthy sense of humor.

CNN: Review: 'Leatherheads' drops the ball

"The government is probably going to have to move to a situation where it's not just the police who can issue you a fine, " he said.

BBC: More drivers using mobile phones since penalty change

Not to put too fine a point on it, he acted as a cat's-paw for his boss, Punch Sulzberger, when the publisher got rid of his own more liberal cousin, John Oakes, as editor of the editorial page.

ECONOMIST: New York opinion-makers