Movie Review: Draft Day

In Draft Day, the latest from Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters), we get a day in the life of Sonny Weaver, Jr (Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams).  He is the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns whose father, the previous GM, has recently passed away.  The majority of the film takes place on the NFL draft day following Sonny from the time he gets up until draft itself.  It's a behind the scenes look at who he's going to pick, trades he makes, and the draft that ensues.

Yeah, I didn't thing that sounded like a real exciting plot either, but this movie has a lot going for it in my opinion.  First is the plot itself.  They took something that doesn't seem real exciting and made you feel how stressful it could really be.  Sonny has to take final looks at his draft prospects and find out if there is anything about them that they missed before.  There are trades offered from other GM's and there is conflict within his own franchise.  A clock is also occasionally thrown up on screen giving the countdown until the draft.  It gives a sort of feeling of pressure seeing the clock count down as he unveils more trades and info.

The strongest part of the whole film is the cast.  Kudos to the casting director because these guys all play well off each other.  On top of all the stress of the day, he of course has a love interest who is also the funds manager of the team, Ali (Jennifer Garner, Dallas Buyers Club).  The relationship adds to the stress of his decision making, and their onscreen chemistry is pretty good.

Through the whole film Sonny is trying his hardest to put together the best team he can.  However, he is a man who cares about character as well as stats and wants to go with his gut.  This is where he butts heads with the owner (Frank Langella, Robot & Frank) and Coach Penn (Denis Leary, The Ref).  They both think the golden ticket is the man with the best stats.  Costner and Leary's scenes together may be where the movie shines brightest.  All of the supporting roles really hit for me as well, from the prospective picks, to his mother, to the other GMs.  Reitman also threw in a little comic relief to lighten the mood in a few scenes without going over the top and disrupting the flow of the film.  Sonny's new assistant, Rick (Griffin Newman), brings just the right amount of well placed chuckles throughout.

The editing was also done in an interesting way.  There are many phone calls throughout the film, so it cuts to split screen quite often.  They didn't just keep it static though.  If someone were walking across the room, they would walk out of their frame, in front of the other person, and on to the other side of the screen where it would be split again.  It was a little different, but it worked well enough for me for the purpose it served.

This is a solid film.  I'm a sucker for a good Kevin Costner sports movie.  I can't say it is going to wow anyone, however, that being said, I can't point out too many inherent flaws in my opinion.  It's got a real solid cast and even if it is an exaggerated Hollywood version of what goes on behind the scenes at draft day, it's still an interesting peek behind the curtain.  Also, there is a lot of draft lingo thrown out there with the trades and the rounds and everything, but don't be intimidated.  I don't know the first thing about behind the scenes football, and they still made it easy enough to follow it.  If you're a fan of Costner or football or both check out this movie.

Rating: *******--- (7 out of 10)

Memorable Quote:

Sonny: Give me five minutes, then you can fire me.