Man, when is this NFL commercial going to be over so the movie can start?
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“Draft Day” stars Kevin Costner as the general manager of the Cleveland Browns, and what happens as he navigates the ins and outs of the NFL draft as well as his own personal trials. The movie also stars Jennifer Garner as a co-worker/love interest and Denis Leary as a new coach who has his own ideas about what the team needs. The film is obviously extremely sports heavy, but is there something here for everyone?
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Yeah, I think so. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s by no means a perfect, or even for that matter, great movie. It certainly has its flaws and we will get to those here in a second, but I think I kinda liked this one. First off, let’s just admit it, Kevin Costner is a flat out movie star. He’s really great on screen and I can’t help but care about the characters he plays. This little Costner resurgence this year has been fun to see and he continues it here. No real bells or whistles, just a performance that feels human and authentic. Speaking of authentic, the one thing the NFL involvement adds is a reality to the proceedings. This felt like the actual NFL draft. The TV coverage felt right, the announcers were dead on, and it’s hard to overstate the importance of using the actual team apparel and logos. It also added a sense of discovery to how the draft day process works allowing almost a behind the scenes feel to what was going on. As far as best thing goes? I know it’s kind of strange but I really enjoyed the way the movie employed split screen to tell the story. Because so much of what happens in drafting happens over the phone, and there is drama on both ends of those conversations, the movie very deftly and creatively included us through some eye catching screen effects. Cool stuff and a great way to spice up what can seem like a boring process on its own.
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and that is one thing I didn’t like, the reality of the NFL draft is that it really comes down to deal making and phone calls, and that honestly makes the plot feel a little bit slow and often cookie cutter. Some of that may also be due to the fact that once we get past our leads the characters themselves often feel very one dimensional. But I think most of it is that it’s just hard to make a draft look exciting to the casual or non sports fan especially. And when they do spice it up it feels like too much and the realism suffers. In this way the movie alternates between methodical and miraculous in a way that often doesn’t work. That distracting back and forth is probably the worst thing. Plus because the crux of the drama is on making wise draft decisions I think it’s a shame that we actually never get to know how those choices play out because we don’t get to see the team play. I mean I know to show the season would have been anticlimactic at best but maybe just some text on screen to know how our guys did?
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Overall, Draft Day is a movie sports fans will love for it’s authentic feel and look inside the NFL draft, and non sports fans might enjoy for some good performances and a bit of fun. Though it doesn’t do anything spectacular I still enjoyed it enough to give it a B-
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