Draft Day Review (2014)
Director: Ivan Reitman
Writer: Scott Rothman, Rajiv Joseph
Starring: Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Frank Langella
Release Date: April 11, 2014

I was bored and flipping channels when I stumbled onto this one. Not something I would have gone out of my way to see, but I am glad I gave it a chance.

Draft Day is an interesting behind-the-scenes look at how NFL teams operate; not just with each other when it comes to talent evaluation, but the regular day-to-day office dynamics that most fans never think about. It is easily the best football movie ever made that contains absolutely no football.

Kevin Costner plays the general manager of the Cleveland Browns and Kevin Bacon plays the head coach, and the two butt heads throughout the film over the team’s direction on the biggest day of the NFL calendar. Costner’s character is under enormous pressure to make a splash in the draft, specifically by selecting a highly hyped quarterback that everyone expects him to take. The problem is that the coach does not want him, and Costner has his own reservations as well. The entire movie takes place over the course of this one single day, and we watch a lot of wheeling and dealing, trades, and high-stakes maneuvering play out in real time.

This plays like a really strong blend of Jerry Maguire and Moneyball. We do not get nearly enough sports movies that focus on the business and front office side of things rather than the generic inspirational sports story, and Draft Day fills that gap well. The cast is fantastic across the board and the story moves fast enough to pack a real dramatic punch.

Jennifer Garner is terrific in her role, but the romance between her character and Costner felt completely obligatory, and the subplot involving Costner’s character’s family backstory was not much better. It is like the writers did not have enough faith in the nuts and bolts of the story — which is genuinely compelling on its own — and decided to pad it out with melodrama that occasionally brings things to a screeching halt. That aside, Draft Day is a pretty good film that gives you a look at a side of the NFL most people never get to see.

Draft Day gets a three out of five: GOOD.