Draft Day Review.

Rating: 7/10 (27 September 2017)

Draft Day is a quaint, feel good sports drama, that focuses on the more mundane backroom elements that go into running a professional sports team. The film stars Kevin Costner as Sonny Weaver Jr. the general manager of the Cleveland Browns. At the start of the film Sonny is given an opportunity to trade his number 1 pick for three consecutive years, to have the ability to sign a highly rated Quarterback in this years draft. After getting cold feet upon accepting the deal, he spends the rest of the day wheeling and dealing with other GM's to get the best deal for his team and come out on top by days end.
Right away it's safe to say that this film will alienate a large chuck of its audience. Especially those outside the U.S or those that don't follow the NFL. Ivan Reitman who directs this film understands this, so to compensate for this he uses a-lot of exposition to educate his audience. This is a useful tool for some, but for me, as someone that is a fan of American football I found it ear-gratingly cheesy. The fact that a GM needs reminding what number Tom Brady was picked at, felt silly. There were a couple of exposition heavy scenes like this that had me rolling my eyes.
Whilst the exposition at times was irritating, I do understand why it was needed. The fact that Ivan Reitman was able to make a sports film that contained no sporting action, as fun and engaging as this film was, is a fantastic achievement. The screenplay whilst fairly standard manages to run along at a decent pace. Never at any moment did Draft day feel boring or dull, even if it was predictable in it's resolutions.
Where the film triumphs is in Kevin Costners performance. Costner is at his charismatic best in this film. He brings warmth and empathy to his character that makes you root for him to come out on top by days end. He's also surrounded by terrific performances from a great supporting cast that features Jennifer Garner, Dennis Leary, Frank Langella to name but a few.
Draft Day may be lacking in dramatic tension that most sports films have, but what it does do is shine a spotlight on an aspect of sport that isn't as sexy or cool to talk about. The fact that Reitman was able to have me root for the backroom staff is a wonderful achievement in my book.