Draft Day

Cleveland is now on the clock.

The NFL Draft has the potential to be a life changing day for a number of young men leaving college hoping to make it in professional sport.  The movie, I don't think, is life changing.  Maybe it did change someone's life.  It didn't change mine, although I do enjoy this movie.

Look, this movie is a middle of the road, good time film.  It’s not special, but it has things I like.  I like the NFL, I like the Cleveland Browns, I like the behind the scenes process of selecting players.  The first movie I ever gave 10/10 or 5 stars was a documentary about motorcycle racing so if it's a movie about something I like it will always do well.

The movie follows Kevin Costner as the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns and the twists and turns of the NFL Draft.  Now the time line is condensed massively for the movie (understandable).  He is offered trades to move up the draft to select a highly touted Quarterback that could change the team.  The only thing is Costner isn’t sure about his character.  Now this is something that teams would have nailed down weeks in advance.  Condensed timeline sure.  Okay.  So Sonny Weaver Jr (Costner) makes a big trade that he does but doesn't really want to do.

Anyway, we meet the players, agents, coaches and other draft prospects along the way.  Oh, and we also meet Jennifer Garner’s character, Allie.  She is the romantic interest of the movie.  She just so happens to be pregnant with Kevin Costner’s baby and is the salary cap manager.  Hilariously, her managing the salary cap is not her primary characteristic.  There is only one or two lines where she is questioned regarding this.  In fact she says that moving from the 7th pick to the first could work but would need a bit of juggling to sort.  However at the end of the movie the team now has the 1st overall pick and the 7th, so how does your salary cap look now?

That's the thing about this movie.  Don’t think too hard about it.  It is simplified to be more accessible to a general audience, which kind of works.  Of the handful of people I know, the ones that have seen this  movie and don’t know much of the NFL (especially the behind the scenes stuff) actually enjoy the movie.  I think it all comes down to the final scene, the actual draft.  The NFL draft can be wildly unpredictable at times and this movie banks on it.  The moving of picks, the urgency of the ticking clock and the pressure make really enjoyable viewing. 

I like this movie.  There are plenty of fun cameos and loads of ‘that-guys’ (you know there's that guy from that thing).  There are some ridiculous things going on, I didn't even mention the wacky scene transitions, but it all gets a pass because the payoff is earned.  It might have taken the scenic route to get there but it got there nonetheless.