(SPOILER WARNING!!! This article does contain spoilers, if you haven’t seen the movie, just see the first paragraph to be informed without spoilers!!!)

Draft Day is a very interesting movie that will definitely entertain the NFL purists, some great acting, and it does paint a great picture of what goes on during Draft Day with the front office in a War Room, maybe too many subplots, but I really enjoyed the movie. Rating 4 out of 5 Stars.

I am a sports fanatic and i’m not afraid to show it. Sports movies seems to be the most inspirational kind of movies, that shows personality, grit, and heart. For the most part it will catch your heart, but one thing about sports movies is that it can be too cliched in their story. Whether it is a true story or not, it can be the same old stereotypical movie no matter what sport it is. That’s why I really enjoyed the movie Moneyball, because it gives a different type of angle in the sports world, that goes very unnoticed. Talks about the General Manager (GM), the person who puts the team together. Moneyball most likely inspired Draft Day to show what GMs have to go through during the busiest time of the offseason. Difference is while Moneyball went with the dramatics, Draft Day went more with the action of what they do leading up to their time of their pick. It was very interesting with me, and I enjoyed it a lot. I actually learned some things, and it still creates a decent unique story. I will start with what i liked, to the so-so, to what I didn’t like.

What I liked, the story was unique in a way of showing GMs doing their job and all the people they have to deal with. Apart from pleasing his family, he has to please the owner, his coach, his staff, the players, the fans, and the media. It’s a lot, and the movie shows how much stress it can give to a GM, and yet they’re the ones with the final decision. I liked the fact that they focused on a team like the Cleveland Browns. In real life that team has struggled a lot, and it seems that nothing right has gone for them. They’re in a city that really all they have is sports, but nothing to cheer for. As the joke goes, God hates Cleveland. So it shows how much pressure the GM has to go through to make the right decision. So he made a big trade for the number 1 pick of the draft. Then everything goes haywire, cuz people are either loving it or hating it for whatever reason. It touches points like getting a potential great QB and whether he lives up to the hype or becomes a bust, or drafting a player who has talent but has a history of bad conduct or hanging out with the wrong people. It shows you have to go with your gut on who the right guy is, and the GM had his mind made up from the beginning. I liked how they show the trade negotiations, especially during the draft when he made the stunning first pick, which really pissed of a lot of people, but noticed that it created a domino effect and knew he was in control. So he negotiated another trade to get another first round pick, and pretty much made Seattle do a panic deal to switch picks and while Seattle picks the QB who could be a bust, and Cleveland getting the RB who wanted to be in Cleveland. That was one hell of great negotiating, and I liked how the movie shows that the GM looked like he couldn’t deal with it anymore, but was in control the whole time. The acting was great, Kevin Costner playing the Browns GM Sonny Weaver Jr., was definitely one of the actors best in a while. I enjoyed Denis Leary as the coach, Vince Penn, who may look egotistical and have his disagreements with Weaver. At times he may look evil, but he’s also trying to do his best for the team which may be different from Weaver’s vision. Frank Langella playing Browns owner, Anthony Molina shows how some owners all they care about is making money than what’s best for the team. His rich ego made me not care about him in the movie, but I believe a lot of Team Owners are like that and it can’t be ignored. Josh Pence playing Bo Callahan, the hyped QB, shows by his nonchalant acting and answering questions told me he didn’t deserve to be number 1, which with him dropping must hit his ego real hard. i liked the different cameos like Sam Elliot as the coach of University of Wisconsin, Chadwick Boseman and Arian Foster playing other potential draft picks, and Sean (Diddy) Combs and Terry crews playing agents of these potential draft picks. I also liked the style of director Ivan Reitman in the movie. Especially how he puts two scenes together and have an overlap on the two scenes. It was weird at first, but you can get used to it. Probably a future in filming.

The so-so, I thought they concentrated too much on the relationship between Weaver and the team’s salary cap lawyer, Ali Parker, played by Jennifer Garner, it shows that they are in a secret relationship, and that she is pregnant. I thought this was a subplot that was concentrated too much. I wish they concentrated more on the subplot of Weaver firing his longtime Browns coach, also his father, and dealing with his family issues. They just mentioned that his mom told him to fire him for the sake of his health, and he passed a few weeks ago. I think that subplot will show a lot more emotion than his relationship issues.

Now to what I didn’t like, on a football movie not once they mentioned the Patriots (my NFL team) only a blurb that mentioned Tom Brady getting drafted in the sixth round. C’mon man, during Draft Day, the Patriots are always trying to make deals with teams, they could’ve made a cameo with the nice intro of showing off the stadium. Ah well, it is what it is.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie on their uniqueness of story, showing more action and less dramatics, and a good sports movie for sports fans alike. Especially a feel good movie for you Cleveland Browns fans!!! Rating 4 out of 5 Stars