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Draft Day Movie Review

By on April 12, 2014
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This is not your average sports movie. If you’re looking for a football movie with game footage and underdogs leading their team to a championship, go watch Little Giants.

Without any sports actually taking place, Draft Day is still fun and entertaining, even for the casual NFL fans.

The movie is based around the Cleveland Browns General Manager, Sonny Weaver Jr. (Kevin Costner), as he goes through the day leading up to the 2014 NFL Draft.

There is already an immense level of stress that a GM faces on draft day, but Sonny Weaver has drama coming at him from all angles, starting with the opening scene when the Seahawks GM offers up the #1 overall pick.

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On top of dealing with the stress of his father passing away a week before the draft, Weaver is demanded to make a splash in the draft by Browns owner and Jerry Jones wannabe, Anthony Molina (Frank Langella), or face being fired. Combine that with the news his girlfriend gives him and dealing with his mourning mother and ex-wife, and it makes for a day only a true Browns fan would envy.

Some of the obstacles in his way do come across as a over-dramatic, but they don’t take away from the humor or suspense of the movie. The drama is actually a great way to keep the girlfriends, wives, and casual fans entertained while the NFL fans get a chance to see some of what goes on behind the scenes at the NFL draft.image_05

Texans running back, Arian Foster, plays a role as a draft prospect and gives a decent performance trying to play a 20-something year old, but hopefully he doesn’t quit his day job. When Terry Crews is in a movie you, expect him to provide some laughs, but surprisingly the humor comes from other characters in the movie.image_04_new

 

Ali, played by Jennifer Garner, is Weaver’s salary cap strategist and girlfriend. Although Sonny and Ali are not “Facebook Official” with their relationship, they are often caught together in the office creating sexual tension. For the most part, Garner floats around the movie helping Costner whenever he becomes frustrated with the obstacles he faces, while also reminding you that women do in fact still exist. image_07

 

The battle between Weaver and Browns head coach, Vince Penn (Dennis Leary), will remind you of the feud between ex-Chargers GM, AJ Smith, and HC Marty Schottenheimer. 113625_gal

There are a few unrealistic parts of the movie that any football fan who knows what a first round pick is will see right right through. In order to keep with the draft day scenario, a few of the events that happened on the day of the draft would actually have taken place over the months leading up to the NFL Draft. Also, the HC Penn recently won a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys in another Barry Switzer scenario. If you can overlook some technicalities, they set up the final scene in the war room really well and it feels close to what an actual draft would feel like as a GM when your team is on the clock.image_12_new

The NFL rarely lends out the rights for movies to use “the shield” and was wise in allowing Draft Day so that it could accurately depict this unique event in sports. And let’s be honest, the real winners in this movie are the NFL and ESPN, who have a 2 hour commercial released a month before the NFL Draft.

If you are struggling with NFL withdraws, Draft Day is definitely worth seeing before the upcoming NFL Draft for a quick fix.

Rating: 7/10

Here is an inside look at Draft Day:

All images from Draft Day Official Website