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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.