Movie Review: "Draft Day" - East Idaho News
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Movie Review: “Draft Day”

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041014 draftday?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1397189208129Lionsgate/Summit(NEW YORK) — Draft Day is one of the most unusual and surprising sports movies ever made.
 
Yes, it’s about an underdog, but it has nothing do to with the action on a field, court or rink. Nor is it about an aging, dying or disabled athlete with something to prove. Instead, this is the story of Kevin Costner’s Sonny Weaver Jr., the fictional general manager of the real Cleveland Browns, and how he wins or loses for his struggling team off the field.
 
Just about the entire movie takes place on draft day. Director Ivan Reitman, along with writers Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph, do a good job explaining the NFL draft to the uninitiated without patronizing die-hard football fans. If you’re one of the former, the draft is how teams build their franchises. Over a three-day period, owners add eligible college players to their teams. The worse your team’s record the previous season, the better your draft pick. But draft position isn’t absolute: you can trade up or down — and therein lies the drama of Draft Day.
 
When we meet Sonny, he isn’t just dealing with the pressure of draft day. His girlfriend Ali (Jennifer Garner), who also works for the team (their office romance is a secret), has just told him she’s pregnant.  Sonny has no idea how to deal with the news, and Ali has no idea how to deal with Sonny’s inability to deal with the news. Furthermore, Sonny’s legendary father, former Cleveland Browns coach Sonny Weaver Sr., died the week before. In addition to his personal issues, both the city of Cleveland and the team’s owner, the flashy Anthony Molina (Frank Langella), are breathing down Sonny’s neck, wanting to know what he’s going to do with their draft pick.
 
Anthony commands Sonny to make a splash, so when the Seattle Seahawks come calling and offer him their first pick — the much-coveted, high-profile quarterback Bo Callahan — Sonny gives Seattle the Browns’ first-round draft pick for the next three years in exchange.
 
The city of Cleveland is elated by the trade, but Sonny is having buyer’s remorse, no longer certain drafting Bo is the right thing to do.  That’s a sentiment shared by new Browns head coach Penn (Denis Leary), who thinks the Browns already have a good quarterback in Brian Drew (Tom Welling).  Just another headache for Sonny.
 
Kevin Costner’s nuanced work here demands empathy. In Draft Day, he delivers one of his more powerful and heartfelt performances, putting the movie on his shoulders like a blue-chip, number-one draft pick would carry a team to the Super Bowl, then win it in the final seconds.
 
Some of the exposition in Draft Day is a bit cringe-worthy to a football fan, as various exchanges between team execs are clearly conversations that would’ve taken place weeks before the actual draft, but this is a movie for non-football fans as well. There’s also some inconsistent characterizations and other fumbles, but they can be forgiven because the rest of Draft Day isn’t just entertaining for sports and movie fans alike: it’s simply thrilling and fun.
 
Four out of five stars.

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