It’s no secret that NFL football
has long surpassed baseball as America’s favorite pastime. But not everyone knows
why: Yes, the game is faster, the hits are harder, the video games cooler. But
the biggest reason, I might argue, is the rise of fantasy football. Thanks to
fantasy football, virtually everyone’s a GM, with their own take on which
running back is faster, which quarterback has the better gun. (There’s fantasy
baseball, too, but like everything else about baseball, it’s more
time-consuming and wonkier.) Combine that with ESPN’s near compulsive coverage
of the sport and its yearly draft, it was just a matter of time before some
smart studio exec greenlit a film that wasn’t about the action on the field, but the
behind-the-scenes machinations off of it.
Enter Ivan Reitman’s Draft Day, which has clearly
been made with the full cooperation of the NFL and ESPN. And why not? It builds
the brand.
Kevin Costner is playing a
variation of many other characters he’s played before—from Bull Durham’s Crash
Davis to Tin Cup’s Roy McAvoy. In fact, I think the film is using a kind of
Kevin Costner shorthand: We take it on faith that Costner is good at his job
and smarter than the other guys, and has a jaded, knowing longview of the sport—because
that’s what Costner does.
Here he’s playing Browns GM Sonny Weaver
Jr., whose back is against the wall on draft day. Early in the film, the team
owner (Frank Langella) tells him that if he doesn’t make a big move, he’s a
goner. So he virtually sells the farm to get the first pick (from The Seattle
Seahawks—oops). But who will he take with it?
Although I enjoyed Draft Day well
enough, it has many flaws.
For one, all the attempts to give
Sonny a personal life—his domineering mother (Ellen Burstyn), his pregnant
girlfriend who also happens to be the team’s CFO (Jennifer Garner), even his
relationship with his late father—are sketchily assembled, in a “checking off the
necessary character points” kind of way.
Also, as much fun as it is to see
Costner wheeling and dealing, winning and losing games of “chicken” with his
fellow GMs, the film never fully convinces us that Costner is actually good at his job.
Some of the moves he makes are downright bone-headed. At one point, he is the
recipient of some really good luck.
Much of the action revolves around
the sure-thing overall first pick quarterback, whom Sonny isn’t quite sold on.
Once again the film is vague: They never make it clear if Sonny’s instincts on
this kid are right.
Still, probably because of all the
cooperation they got with the big players, the film just feels right.
Commissioner Roger Goodell is actually there on draft day. The maneuvers, the kids being
drafted, the behind-the-scenes chatter, even the game footage that Sonny pours
over with his staff—it all seems legit, adding to our overall enjoyment.
Draft Day is a fun time for arm
chair GMs and those with nostalgia for 90s-era Costner. If, on the venn diagram,
you happen to reside where those two things overlap, you’ll be in movie heaven.