Skating For The NFL

Rating: 3/10 (23 March 2015)

There hasn't been a movie that used the NFL brand since "Heaven Can Wait." That's all you need to know about the Nazi behavior of the NFL protecting the so-called "Shield." You guys play a kids game with people with less intelligence than a child. I find it pretty insulting you try to class it up with rules.
Incidentally, white owners with white coaches illicit the ideals of slavery. Million dollar payouts of not, this is the true ugliness of the sport. Honesty.
Anyway, politics aside, I knew going in this was going to be milquetoast movie about the sport. Costner plays this GM who hires an UNBELIEVABLE coach in Denis Leary towards the draft day. Supposedly a moment that changes young men's lives. There is no dirt to uncover here. The gleaming white QB with prospects higher than God, is on the shopping block. And there's a mad push for Cleveland to ditch the ineffective veteran (again a miscast of Tom Welling) for brand spanking new toy. They allude that he's already spent 8 years with the Browns and had it not been for the injury the previous season, he may've taken them further. THAN, as a matter of painting him to be a man of high moral character, they speak about him like he has a strong moral backbone. We never see it. But people talk about him in this weird mythical being who FAILED 7 of those years. This should raise the temp of any Browns fan. And also remind them of their futile effort of idiocy.
I think you do have to be a football fan to understand the coming and going of these types of moves. They inject it with a ridiculous Jennifer Garner character and this oddball relationship between Costner and Burstyn to get some type of female audience to sympathize. They completely wasted Frank Langella as the owner of the Browns who is a one dimensional clod. Who clearly knows zip about football. Who is this suppose to be (in the real NFL)? I would find him more insidious bug if it he played it like owner Mike Brown. The owner of the Bengals, who is a true oily dirtbag. Making moves to undercut the coach, but never in public. And never verbalize his idiotic decisions but lives under the shadow of football royalty.
The story is stupid. And most likely not to the fault of writers/director. It seemed like their hands were tied by not portraying the business side accurately. I kept thinking...this was an excuse movie. A chance for the NFL to say "Well we got a few rotten apples, and a few good apples" Never mind the rotten apples' character flaws were something as dumb as not reading a playbook. Try spousal abuse, and brain injury next time.