Would've been better if it wasn't so unrealistic

Rating: 5/10 (12 December 2015)

'Draft Day' is one of those films that on first glance appears to be an inspirational sporting story with nicely weaved elements of drama and feel-good moments. Until you actually step back and consider the implausibility of what you've just watched that is. It deals in small elements of truth that have happened over the years, but is far from being 'based on a true story' (not that it ever claimed to be). Therefore the scriptwriters were able to take huge liberties in the way they went about telling their story. Sadly this probably worked on the majority of viewers because I imagine not a high percentage of people know how the NFL draft works and therefore were clueless as to just how realistic the trades being made were, and thus just accepted them. For them this was probably a great movie. For the rest of us in the know, it was anything but.
You're probably wondering whether a film simply being unrealistic in this way can actually ruin it. Afterall there are very few movies ever made that are entirely realistic. The difference with 'Draft Day' is that it is based on a very specific and very real event held every year. The reason this isn't based on a true story is because nothing like this ever has or ever will happen. A love story on the Titanic, absolutely could have (and probably did to some extent) happened, liberties taken around fact. Ridiculous deals being made in the NFL draft, leaving the Cleveland Browns looking like absolute geniuses and the Jacksonville Jaguars look like the biggest chumps in the history of sport? Not acceptable.