Draft Day Movie Review

Draft Day

 

 

Genre: Drama, Sports, Comedy. 

Director: Ivan Reitman. 

Cast:  Kevin Costner, Chadwick Boseman, Jennifer Garner etc.

Synopsis:On the day of the NFL Draft, general manager Sonny Weaver has the opportunity to save football in Cleveland when he trades for the number one pick. He must quickly decide what he's willing to sacrifice in pursuit of perfection as the lines between his personal and professional life become blurred on a life-changing day for a few hundred young men with dreams of playing in the NFL.

 

Review:"Draft Day" is one of the most unusual and surprising sports movies ever made.

Yes, it’s about an underdog, but it has nothing do to with the action on a field, court or rink. Nor is it about an aging, dying or disabled athlete with something to prove. Instead, this is the story of Kevin Costner’s Sonny Weaver Jr., the fictional general manager of the real Cleveland Browns, and how he wins or loses for his struggling team off the field.

Just about the entire movie takes place on draft day. Director Ivan Reitman, along with writers Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph, do a good job explaining the NFL draft to the uninitiated without patronizing die-hard football fans. If you're one of the former, the draft is how teams build their franchises. Over a three-day period, owners add eligible college players to their teams. The worse your team's record the previous season, the better your draft pick. But draft position isn't absolute: You can trade up or down -- and therein lies the drama of "Draft Day."

Kevin Costner’s nuanced work here demands empathy. In "Draft Day," he delivers one of his more powerful and heartfelt performances, putting the movie on his shoulders like a blue-chip, number-one draft pick would carry a team to the Super Bowl, then win it in the final seconds.

Some of the exposition in "Draft Day" is a bit cringe-worthy to a football fan, as various exchanges between team execs are clearly conversations that would’ve taken place weeks before the actual draft. But this is a movie for non-football fans, as well. There's also some inconsistent characterizations and other fumbles, but they can be forgiven because the rest of "Draft Day" isn’t just entertaining for sports and movie fans alike: It’s simply thrilling and fun.