Rewind, Review, and Re-Rate: ’Draft Day’: A Dude-Flick for the Hardcore Sports Fan

PG-13 | 1h 50m | Sports, Drama | April 7, 2014

The NFL Draft—it hypes American football like the Oscars hype movies. Public picking of players for pro ball makes money. “Draft Day” is an infomercial for the NFL, of course. It’s big hype. We know this because Roger Goodell has a speaking role. Enough said.

Are you a football fan? If yes, you’ve already seen it of course. Not a fan? Not a problem. If you liked “Moneyball” and “Trouble with the Curve,” you’ll enjoy the dude-fest that is “Draft Day.” It’s got king-of-sports-movies actor Kevin Costner. It’s not “Bull Durham,” but it’s not bad.

Sonny Weaver Jr. (Kevin Costner), in “Draft Day.” (Dale Robinette/ Summit Entertainment)

Ticking Clock

Stealing the (very fresh at the time) ticking-clock visual from the hit TV show “24,” “Draft Day” packs the normally bloated three-day draft process into one harried, decision-making day in the life of Sonny Weaver Jr. (Costner).

Sonny is the general manager of the sorry-loser Cleveland Browns. His choices this day can make or break Brown-ville. Everyone hopes he will save football in Cleveland by trading for the No. 1 pick, especially team owner (Frank Langella, all Learjet-y and dark shades), who nags Sonny for “something splashy.” Head coach Penn (Denis Leary playing a head coach as only Denis Leary can) wants a team he can work with.

Head coach Penn (Denis Leary), in “Draft Day.” (Dale Robinette/ Summit Entertainment)

Sonny can pick an aggressive, whip-smart, family-man, defensive back (Chadwick Boseman in the “Jerry Maguire” Cuba Gooding role). Or he could go for the slick, morally suspect Heisman Trophy winner. Also up for grabs is the Florida State halfback, an otherwise good kid despite a rap sheet for under-the-influence shenanigans. The kid’s dad was a Cleveland Brown before him—a good opportunity for a GM-to-potential-player “Can you behave yourself?” speech.

Vontae Mack (Chadwick Boseman, center) in “Draft Day.” (Dale Robinette/ Summit Entertainment)

Coming Into His Own

The bottom line is that Sonny values principles and integrity. He can kiss the owner’s ring or the head coach’s much-brandished Super Bowl ring or ... step into his own belated greatness.

Woven into Weaver’s sports life are threads of his annoying mom (a scene-stealing Ellen Burstyn), the story of how he fired his dad (the Browns’ previous coach), as well as his salary-cap expert and pregnant girlfriend (Jennifer Garner).

Sonny Weaver Jr. (Kevin Costner) and girlfriend Ali (Jennifer Garner), in “Draft Day.” (Dale Robinette/ Summit Entertainment)

We’ve seen lots of this type of “Art of the Deal” maneuvering—how GMs spread gossip, bait and switch, gamble, anticipate, mislead, haggle, and play angles against each other. It never gets old. It’s also the best part. What with the NFL, ESPN, and the NFL Network all over this film like white on rice, it all feels pretty authentic.

Costner is doing perhaps a bit too much of the Low-Key-Kev. He can do this kind of role while in a coma. But we’ll still go pay to watch. That’s a movie star.

Coach Penn (Denis Leary) and Sonny Weaver Jr. (Kevin Costner) in “Draft Day.” (Dale Robinette/ Summit Entertainment)

The actual NFL draft doesn’t contain a lot of drama per se, except for the most grizzled sports fans: the freezing-weather, naked, cheese-head-wearing, holler-’til-hoarse, war-paint freaks. That’s America. Sports around the globe, actually. It’s a tribe.

When this movie came out, I sat next to two such tribal members at the screening. They didn’t have their war paint on, but were readily recognizable as tribesmen. There was much derisive snorting, eye rolling, leaning forward out of seats in intense anticipation, and slamming back into seats, accompanied by vigorous upward throwing of hands, and many utterances, of “Pfffft!!!” and “Yeah right!!” Upon exiting the theater, they were overheard to say that this movie was a—well, a disappointment.

I’m not so sure about all that. My bet is that these two bought a copy of “Draft Day” for their personal collections the minute it came out.

“Draft Day” is a dude-flick that sports dudes will love to diss, while enjoying themselves immensely.

Sonny Weaver Jr. (Kevin Costner) on the phone wheeling and dealing, in “Draft Day.” (Dale Robinette/ Summit Entertainment)

‘Draft Day’ Director: Ivan Reitman Starring: Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Dennis Leary, Frank Langella, Ellen Burstyn, Chadwick Boseman Running Length: 1 hour, 50 minutes MPAA Rating: PG-13 Release Date: April 7, 2014 3 stars out of 5