Kind of like 'MONEYBALL' but not quite as good.

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2014)

'DRAFT DAY': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
Another sports flick starring Kevin Costner. In this one he plays the general manager for the Cleveland Browns and the movie all takes place on the day of the NFL Draft, when he trades for the number one pick. It costars Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Frank Langella, Ellen Burstyn, Josh Pence, Tom Welling (of 'SMALLVILLE' fame) and Chadwick Boseman (who also stared in the baseball flick '42', from last year, as Jackie Robinson). It was written by first time film writers Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman and directed by Ivan Reitman. I'm not a fan of football (or sports in general) but I still found this flick to be interesting and entertaining enough.
The story is set all on the day of the (fictionalized) 2014 NFL Draft. Costner plays Sonny Weaver Jr., the Cleveland Browns General Manager who's father coached the Browns (for many years) and was a legacy. Sonny Jr. is notorious for having fired his father (a year earlier) and his dad just passed away, a week before the draft. Sonny is also not popular with fans and doesn't have a good record with his team (who's been losing regularly). On top of that he just found out his girlfriend Ali Parker (Garner), who he's been seeing secretly (because she also works for the Browns), is pregnant. He's at odds with his head coach (Leary), his current quarterback (Welling) has been out of commission due to an injury and the Browns owner (Langella) threatened his job if he doesn't "make a splash". Under pressure he trades his team's next three years of first-round draft picks, to the Seahawks, for the number one draft choice. Everyone thinks he's going to pick the most desired college player Bo Callahan (Pence), a quarterback from the University of Wisconsin and Heisman Trophy winner, but he spends the rest of the day (all the way up to the draft) contemplating it.
Like I said I don't care about sports or football so of course I knew little about how the NFL Draft works but I still found the story easy to follow and involving. That's due to adequate directing from Reitman and a clever script (these writers obviously know football). Credit is also due to the all-star cast though, especially Costner (who's having a decent year). So I'm really impressed that a movie that's all about football, in all it's boring detail, kept me that entertained. To me that's a well made film and deserves some respect for it. It's not a great sports flick but it's definitely a good one. Some of the thrill isn't there because it's all behind the scenes stuff; it's kind of like 'MONEYBALL' but not quite as good.
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