More talk, less football: Draft Day is an enjoyable, behind the scenes sports flick

KEVIN COSTNER and JENNIFER GARNER star in DRAFT DAY

In general, I tend to enjoy sports movies.  There are a couple of “types” of sports films that I particularly enjoy: one being the inspirational kind where players come together to overcome the odds, like in Rudy, Remember the Titans, and We Are Marshall, and then there are sports films that focus on the behind the scenes of the industry, like in Jerry Maguire. Draft Day is the latter.

The film takes place over the course of one day, “draft day,” as the title suggests, where Kevin Costner, as Sonny Weaver Jr., general manager of the Cleveland Browns football team, has to decide on his draft picks for the season. The film concentrates on the wheeling and dealing that occurs behind the scenes, the deals being made and unmade, the strategizing, and the last minute decisions.

On this very important day, Sonny Weaver Jr. is dealing with both personal and professional issues, issues that are constantly overlapping into the other’s realm. Ali, played by Jennifer Garner, is Sonny’s girlfriend and she also works for the Cleveland Browns by managing the salary cap. The morning of draft day, Ali tells Sonny that she’s pregnant, as though there already wasn’t enough to deal with. Not only that, but Sonny is also living in the shadow of his late father, who was previously the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, and it is also on draft day that his mother, played by Ellen Burstyn, decides she would like to spread his ashes.  Sonny’s personal and professional lives depend on the action he takes today.

Unfortunately, as in many sports films, there are few roles for women, and the roles they do have here aren’t very interesting or complex. While Jennifer Garner’s Ali is smart and straightforward, she still is incredibly secondary in all the action. Ellen Burstyn, as Sonny’s mother, is a stereotypical nagging matriarch. Both female characters, to one degree or another, seem to be there to distract Sonny on his important, and possibly life and career-changing, day.

That being said, I would still recommend Draft Day, even if you’re not very interested in sports. It is much more of a “talking” film than one with action; many of the scenes take place over telephone calls, for example. It is important to pay attention to the details of the conversation in order to understand the direction of the film. While Costner’s Sonny isn’t a very compelling character, he deals primarily with his emotions in an internalized way. Denis Leary as Coach Penn, Frank Langella as the Cleveland Browns’s owner, Anthony Molina, and all the different football players, bring a vibrancy and liveliness to what could have been a lackluster film.

Overall, Draft Day is an enjoyable and interesting film. I did find myself curious to see how the decisions are made for players, and the film actually becomes more exciting as the draft approaches. The film managed to make, what seemed like a bland topic before I watched it, high-paced and surprising.