"DRAFT DAY" FILM REVIEW

##“DRAFT DAY” FILM REVIEW

“DRAFT DAY” is a lean and mean film and you have to hand it to KEVIN COSTNER for assembling both.

He’s the ideal hero.

You don’t need to be inundated with football fever knowledge to show the slightest ounce of  interest in American football, courtesy of the National Football League (NFL). Even if you exercise disdain at this sport,   end of the day you might be at the arena cheering.

 DRAFT DAY is all about Sonny Weaver, Jr. (played by KEVIN COSTNER), the fast thinking general manager of the Cleveland Browns who has only 10 hours left on his platter, to decide how he’s going to make the best choice out of the NFL draft.

This one is a sports thriller with corporate politics thrown in, piling atop the mayhem.

We are shown the wheeling and dealing that goes on behind the scenes, as teams and managers go about their tasks.

Everybody is being  cajoled into making hasty decisions by agents and the players they represent.

 Sonny is well aware that everything comes down to the choices he makes on this particular day.

He starts things off badly with a trade that earns them the first pick of the day, but at the expense of their first-round picks for the next three years.

Here’s a bit regarding the players:

There’s Bo Callahan (Josh Pence) a quarterback who has already been anointed as “the next big thing.”

Then there’s Brian Drew (Tom Welling), who is already the quarterback for the Browns, working his way back after an injury sidelined him.

There is Ray Jennings (Arian Foster) and Vontae Mack (Chadwick Boseman) two players who feel betrayed during early-round picks by the Browns.

More than anyone else, Sonny has to impress Anthony Molina (Frank Langella), owner of the Browns, because Molina has no real faith that Sonny is able to turn things around.

Even as Sonny struggles with his professional problems, he’s also got to grapple with his relationship with Ali (Jennifer Garner), the lawyer whose job it is to keep some control of the salary caps for the team.

It’s interesting to watch Sonny handling all the obstacles stacked in his way, throughout the movie.

  DRAFT DAY focuses entirely on the business of sports, as opposed to what transpires on the field.

Much ado about man sports stars?

Surely.

The film transports you into the back rooms of several franchises, exposing their motives from a strategic perspective.

The owners are akin to generals and they armed with their battle plans.

Go watch it, even if you are not a football fan.

There’s nothing like a true-blue challenge in life, right?

Rating: 3.5 out of 5