Review: ‘Draft Day’ is an interesting look at football’s biggest spring event

Posted on April 18, 2014

And for football fans who can’t wait until the NFL draft, we have “Draft Day,” the fictional sports drama about the owners, general managers, coaches, veteran players and hopeful rookies who all make the draft so compelling.

To work at all, “Draft Day” had to first overcome a significant problem. It’s fictional. Even if you are a Cleveland Browns fan–the story focuses on that team’s fictional general manager–nothing that happens in this movie will affect, negatively or positively, the real Cleveland Browns. The reason we love the draft is that a good draft can help turn around a team’s fortunes and a bad one can set it back just as easily. So can the fictional story truly draw us in and make us care?

Fortunately, “Draft Day” does just that. It’s not an epic achievement in storytelling or moviemaking, but it provides an entertaining 109 minutes for football fans and by the end of the film, you actually care whether the characters and the team will make it all work.

“Draft Day” is a fun and interesting “behind the scenes” look at the machinations which make the NFL draft so compelling. But what ultimately makes “Draft Day” work is the fact that the film itself is quite good on its own right.

The movie is rated PG-13 on appeal for brief strong language and sexual references.

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