When you see the posters and trailers for Draft Day, uninspiring is probably the word that comes to mind. Though it’s directed by Ivan Reitman, I walked into Draft Day expecting a piece of garbage. In fact, this movie looked so much like trash that I nearly didn’t see it, but you know what, it actually wasn’t half bad. In fact, it was pure and predictable Hollywood entertainment, but sometimes mindless entertainment is all you’re looking for when you want a light night out.
In Draft Day, Kevin Costner plays Sonny Weaver, the GM of the Cleveland Browns and the man responsible for the draft picks made on draft day. With an opportunity to rebuild his team, Sonny makes a game changing trade with the Seahawks that gives him the number one pick in the draft. After sacrificing his number one draft picks for the next three years, Sonny must find a way to ensure that his number one pick won’t be a bust and still manage to salvage a team that he can be proud of, but one that his coach and colleagues can work with.
The surface plot is simply but there are a lot of other moving parts in this movie which is what gets you mildly invested in the film. Just a week prior to the draft, Sonny’s father, a former coach of the Browns, passed away and then on draft day he finds out that his co-worker and love interest Ali (Jennifer Garner) is pregnant. Tack on pressure from the owner (Frank Langella) to make a splash during the draft, pressure from the coach to draft players that’ll help him create a winning team, and then pressure from the fans to not disappoint them and you’ve got a ton of stress to deal with on a day that could make or break the lives and careers of hundreds of players.
With the exception of a cleverly devised but also unintentional draft strategy, there isn’t much to the story that’s truly interesting. That being said, a handful of the film’s actors are what really generate the entertainment, guys like Costner, Chadwick Boseman, Denis Leary, Frank Langella, the intern Griffin Newman, Jennifer Garner and Brad William Henke contribute solid laughs, whether they’re related to the story or not is another question entirely. Actually, this is the first film I’ve seen in which I didn’t hate Jennifer Garner by the end of it. In fact, I thought she was rather exceptional and played her role convincingly. In a rare instance, her presence actually elevated the movie.
Draft Day isn’t a movie you’ll likely remember in a year or two, nor is it a film that’ll be considered Top 10 material for football films, but it is a film that’ll make you laugh, may draw you to the edge of your seat as things begin to heat up and the Sonny’s on the clock, and will end exactly the way you thought it would after the story is established. Suffice to say it’s a film that’ll entertain the masses, both for football and non-football fans alike, leaving them satisfied with a film that sees the return of Kevin Costner to a genre he’s strongly associated with.
Rating: Mindless, easygoing and uninspired Hollywood entertainment that’s perfect if you want something light to watch (5.9/10)
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