“Draft Day” now playing was directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman. The film stars Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Frank Langella, Sam Elliott, Ellen Burstyn, and Chadwick Boseman.
The NFL Draft…a day where many lives change for so many looking to make an impact in the National Football League. A total of 256 men are selected to 32 different teams and are given the chance to earn a paycheck to play in one of the most popular sports in the United States. For people like me, the NFL Draft is pretty much a holiday. Many fans will find themselves at the draft (myself included) or watching at home seeing what their team does next. Ivan Reitman’s “Draft Day” will be a glorious treat for football fans everywhere and will probably be, while unbelievable, a very fun ride. For regular moviegoers though, “Draft Day” will still be an enjoyable enough watch while it suffers from a weak story when it’s not talking about football.
Opening up on the early hours of the NFL Draft, Seattle Seahawks general manager Tom Michaels (Patrick St. Esprit) is under a lot of pressure by Seahawks owner Walt Gordon (Chi McBride) to move the first overall pick to a team desperate enough to overpay for the pick. Enter in the general manager of the Cleveland Browns, Sonny Weaver Jr. (Costner). After a couple of below average seasons, Sonny is on the brink of losing his job and knows he has to make a big splash on Draft Day or else his job could be on the line. While dealing with the stress of his work, he’s also having trouble managing his secret relationship and with Ali (Garner), who works for Sonny in the Browns office on the salary cap. Oh, I should mention she’s also pregnant so that always adds a bit of something as well.
Dealing with the pressures of being a father soon, having his own father pass away the week before the draft (I’ll get to that in a second), having prospects and agents continually call him to make a case and pick them with the 7th overall pick, and the overall hecticness of Draft Day, Sonny makes an irrational trade with the Seattle Seahawks to the dismay of the Browns war room and new head coach (Leary). On the other hand, Browns owner Anthony Molina (Langella) is excited about the move, feeling this is the splash the franchise needed to make. Getting to Sonny’s father, Sonny Weaver Sr. is Cleveland royalty — coaching the Browns for many, many years until his own son fired him two seasons ago for a mediocre season and the need for a change.
So now possessing the first overall pick of the NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns are on the clock to make a big move. The belief is that the Browns will draft the #1 prospect coming out of Wisconsin, Bo Callahan (Josh Pence). The two wild card picks in the draft for the Browns to take consist of outspoken linebacker Vontae Mack (Boseman) and troubled running back Ray Jennings (Arian Foster). Jennings’ father, Earl (Terry Crews), was the runningback for the Cleveland Browns and is beloved by the city. So which will it be?
There’s a lot going on in “Draft Day,” with all of the actual football moves and the other plotlines going around that sometimes it feels like the movie is trying to do too much. First off, the relationship between Costner and Garner just doesn’t feel right…it feels forced almost right from the start. And then the family issues involving Sonny’s mother, Barb (Bustyn). The constant bickering between mother and son gets old quickly and it really doesn’t feel like there’s a place in the movie for it. Focusing on the football aspect, I can say with confidence that if a general manager had attempted to pull off trades similar to Sonny, they’d be fired almost on the spot. But for the sake of the movie, it’s easy to let it slide so you could watch the way things play out.
As a football fan, I really did love “Draft Day” because it was just exciting to see. It feel like watching a session of Madden 25 take place in real time with the deals going on and that’s just fun to watch. As a regular moviegoer though, the elements outside of football just don’t feel like they fit in and that really takes away from the experience. If “Draft Day” had been all about the NFL Draft, I believe the movie could have been a lot better. But, understandably, “Draft Day” has to cater to a nationwide audience and not just those who are football fans. So what it comes down to is this — “Draft Day” isn’t a movie that’ll wow you with subplots and story. But where “Draft Day” excels is when it talks football…but that’s what it’s really all about, isn’t it?
-Joshua Kaye
