Draft Day is a movie about football for people that don’t know anything about football, the National Football League or the NFL Draft. The only inkling of realism might be found in the way potential draftees feel and worry up and until they hear their name called. Well, I guess you could also say that if this film offers any indication of how Cleveland Browns executives approach each year’s draft it explains a lot about that franchise as well, but I think Cleveland sports has endured enough embarrassment already.
Of course, once you consider this film is presented with the full support of the NFL you may as well chalk it up as a fantasy, because those guys aren’t going to support anything that in any way would shed a negative light on themselves or any of their teams… though the Seahawks and Jaguars do come away looking like a bunch of doofuses. What’s that about?
The story centers around Cleveland Browns general manager Sonny Weaver (Kevin Costner in his typical demeanor). Approached with a deal by the Seattle Seahawks, Weaver finds himself under pressure from the team’s owner (Frank Langella), coach (Denis Leary), a trio of prospects (Arian Foster, Chadwick Boseman and Josh Pence), his current quarterback (Tom Welling) and the city of Cleveland all while trying to make his girlfriend (Jennifer Garner) happy, as she not only manages the team’s salary cap but is also pregnant with his baby.
Oh, and their relationship is supposedly a secret, which means a lot of meetings in… a closet? You know, because that isn’t suspicious. Sonny is also saddled with the fact he had to fire his recently deceased father, who was the Browns’ previous coach, and his mother (Ellen Burstyn) and ex-wife (seriously!) show up at one point for a moment so ridiculous it’s hard to believe anyone ever got past reading it during the script stage before chucking it in the trash.
Yeah, and that’s just the setup before you get into the wizardry of the film’s third act where the most outlandish and ridiculous Draft Day scenario takes place where I would hope you wouldn’t even have to be a football fan to roll your eyes all the way into the back of your head.
Costner stomps around the film in a constant state of indignation as he consistently places himself before others, but considering his circumstances I can hardly blame him. Leary loves shoving his Super Bowl ring in Sonny’s face as a constant reminder of how well he did when he was coaching the Dallas Cowboys (like I said, a fantasy movie) and Langella storms each scene with the wherewithal of a rich goon in sunglasses only interested in selling tickets, not winning games.
The only positive I felt walking away from this movie was the thought of how Jennifer Garner needs more of these serious, dramatic roles. Garner is frequently good when she’s playing a woman with a brain and while her character is largely trampled on in this movie, she stands tall as a smart businesswoman with a strong level of self-confidence. Though, in a perfect world, she wouldn’t be pregnant out of wedlock and run as far away from a relationship with Sonny as she could.
I’ve read comparisons to 2011’s Moneyball when it comes to this movie, but I would hope screenwriters Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph would quickly correct anyone that made such a comparison as it only makes the incompetency of this script all the more glaring.
The biggest problem the film faces is the question of tension. The NFL Draft is interesting to those that watch it because a) they are invested in the teams drafting; b) they are invested in the college players being drafted; or c) because they simply love and follow all aspects of football.
The problem with scenarios A and B when it comes to this movie is the teams and players are fictitious. Yes, we may be dealing with the actual team names, but the rest is made up. And when it comes to C, you may love football, but again, this is all fictitious so the film has to give you reason to root for the teams drafting and the players being drafted. If anyone making this movie knew anything about the sport they’d realize that’s impossible… or perhaps that’s why they invented all the personal issues Sonny is dealing with as a result. But if that’s the case, hasn’t the point of the movie just been lost?
So what you’re left with is an inept film that wants to be about football, but is instead a story about an NFL general manager that got his at-work girlfriend knocked up, fired his dad, is hated by his coach, doubted by the city he works in and pretty much can’t win without an absolute miracle falling into his lap. Please, put a few more roadblocks in his way, I’m beginning to wonder how this will end.
