How do you make it through the day knowing one bad decision could risk everything you've helped build? In April 2014, we watched as the possible future of Sonny's team revolved around the choices he made in one important day... draft day.Directing this 109 minute drama/sports is Ivan Reitman.
Making it through the day is: Kevin Costner as Sonny Weaver Jr., Jennifer Garner as Ali, Denis Leary as Coach Penn, Patrick St. Esprit as Tom Michaels and Chadwick Boseman as Vontae Mack.
It's time for the general manager, Sonny Weaver Jr., of the Cleveland Browns to go to work and try to put together a winning football team. To put this team togeter he's going to have to take chances to get the players he wants. Why? Because it's draft day for the NFL (National Football League). Draft day is when all
the teams look to gain new talent or trade for other players. Like all decisions, everything has a risk factor, but as long as you win, isn't the risk worth it?
I'm sure if you're a football fan you'll enjoy this flick, especially if you're into the whole draft pick part of football. I'm not really into the drafts, but I was still curious about this one, it is a Costner movie after all so it should be good... right?
The storyline was ok but the title says it all, you're watching a man working during the draft picks. There's a couple other areas in the story that writers Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman give you to focus on. Like Weaver's personal life being twisted around the main story. I say twisted because, yes, I can see how it all (personal/work) goes hand in hand, but the way it plays through just isn't a very smooth ride at times. The film is constantly trying to hold on to this full throttle pace because "it's all about today", which puts a lot of pressure on the Weaver character. The problem I had was that Costner had a constant look of being lost or overwhelmed, at least the overwhelmed I could understand. I just kept noticing how what ever Costner was doing at the moment and the scene in the film at the time, well the two just didn't seem in sync at times.
Even though the rest of the cast did really good and it was cool seeing a few faces that I hadn't in awhile. Like Welling (cause I haven't seen him since Smallville, and yes I watched that show) or Leary (I've always been a fan of his), but I can't say anyone special had a stand out performance. The people I really liked had small parts and passed by rather quickly with their scenes. Still super cool to see the likes of Sam Elliott, Jim Brown, Terry Crews and Frank Langella. Plus since it's a football movie, of course you'll see people like Chris Berman, Deion Sanders and many many more.
This flick had a budget of 25 million (I'm guessing a lot of it was spent on casting... just saying), but when it hit the theater it came out against some serious competition. Like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Rio 2 and a few others. I don't really see this one as a huge "blockbuster" so I'm not expecting this film to make a lot of that budget back, at least not right away. Last time I checked, since the film was released it had only pulled in about 20 million, and around 10 million of that was on opening weekend. Ouch!
As for the playthrough, it was ok but it had trouble holding my attention. I will say one of the cool things about this flick is the behind the scenes look you get into football. Now, yeah I watch a game here and there, but I'm not a huge fan. I don't know stats, nor am I very familiar with the "big" named players of today. Yet, when I was watching what it takes to make a team and the risk involved of making a call was pretty cool. You never (least I didn't) really think about what goes on past the players on the field, right then and there. These players have a family, a life and unfortunately a shelf life (how long they can play the game), and we get to see a small part of that in this flick. That does add a cool dimension to the film, but you only see small pieces of it.
Overall, football and Costner fans will probably jump on this one. For anyone that's not really a big fan of either of those (like me), it's still not a bad movie. Though personally, I wouldn't see this one at theater prices, there's other dramas worth the money.
It's rated PG-13 for
3 star