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Draft Day (1 Viewer)

Freddie Z

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Had the opportunity to watch an advanced screening of Draft Day starring Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner. It was quite enjoyable as it deals with the NFL football draft and the wheelings and dealings that occur during draft day. As a sports fan I am quite familiar with what usually happens on draft day so the ending was somewhat predictable to me. However, non-sports fans may find the situations leading up to the draft intriguing and maybe even thrilling. When it dealt with aspects of the draft, the movie worked. What I didn't really like was the romantic relationship between Sonny (Costner) and Ali (Garner). It just didn't feel necessary to the story and I thought their reveal to Sonny's mother (played by Ellen Burstyn) came out of nowhere. What I would have liked was more screen time on the players integral to the draft. That said, I still would recommend this movie as it is entertaining and I enjoyed it despite its shortcomings.
 

Mike Ouellet

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It looks good.There were reviews saying it was as good as Bull Durham and Field of Dreams. I highly doubt that but I still wanna see it.As long as Kevin Costner stays out of the director chair and sticks to acting I'm usually in.
 

Patrick Sun

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"Draft Day" is somewhat a fairy tale told with the backdrop of the story being the NFL's draft day with a running time that's probably a little too short to rightfully invest in the main characters, starting with Sonny Weaver Jr. (Kevin Costner) on the day of the 2014 NFL draft, as he's the general manager of the Cleveland Browns. In his position Sonny's in charge of making deals and drafting new talent with the draft pick positions at hand, and a lot of wheeling-and-dealing amongst other general managers around the league.

The other main subplot deals with Sonny's romantic life, where he's been seeing, on the sly, Allie (Jennifer Garner), who handles the team's salary cap/legal department with it comes to payroll for the team. I think had the relationship had more screen time to grow organically, it might have paid off a little better at the end, along with Sonny's other family issues.

The fairy tale aspect, for me, is how the actual draft unfolds, borders on entertainingly ridiculous, but still fun if you're rooting for Sonny to get stuff done and not get fired by the end of draft day.

What struck me funny was that unlikely pairing, on-screen, of Pa Kent from "Man of Steel" (Costner), and Clark Kent from "Smallville" (Tom Welling) in the film, as Welling plays the team's veteran quarterback whose position is threatened when it seems like Sonny has the draft pick to select a "can't-miss" quarterback in the draft. Anyhow, like I said, it was an odd moment if you follow the Superman films and TV show.

I give it 2.5 stars or a grade of C+.
 

Robert Crawford

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I liked the film well enough, but as somebody that has watched the NFL draft every year since ESPN started broadcasting it, I had a problem with some of those draft trades. Particularly, the trade for the number six pick in the first round just ahead of Seattle. I thought it was silly.
 

Nigel P

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I am interested in seeing this as I love the NFL draft. I just don't know when I will get the opportunity as the following although dedicated is still pretty small over here.
 

mattCR

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It was OK. I love the NFL draft, and we mock draft all the time in my groups... but we got into ridiculous territory at the end

The trade back to Seattle for everything+a player? Come on.

I thought it would have been better if they would have not went quite so far and

Traded for 1 of his picks, a 2nd round pick back plus the player. It's more likely, Seattle could tell fan base it helped with their salary cap, got the player they wanted etc.. all good, and while Sonny would give up 2 #1s in the following years, he would be able to say I got my #1 back this year, plus another in a player for next year. Or something. Anything but 'give me back everything PLUS a player..
 

Colin Jacobson

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Robert Crawford said:
I liked the film well enough, but as somebody that has watched the NFL draft every year since ESPN started broadcasting it, I had a problem with some of those draft trades. Particularly, the trade for the number six pick in the first round just ahead of Seattle. I thought it was silly.
The biggest problem is that as depicted in the film, Sonny is the worst GM in the history of the NFL until he manages to redeem himself at the end. He makes bad decision after bad decision but then manages a miracle at the last minute.

It's ridiculous. I liked that it depicted the multiple pressures on a GM - owner, coach, fans, other players, etc. - but it was patently absurd too much of the time...
 

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