Draft Day (2014)
A close friend of mine who’s into American Football, a sport I’m fast becoming addicted to, told me if you want to understand the draft then Draft Day is a great place to start. Apart from some basics such as the lowest team picking the cream of the crop (something the Premier League could learn from) of college football’s professional newbies I am dumb to the process.
This egalitarian levelling of the playing field in order to even things up, I really don’t get, but I like. On one hand it’s confusing, on another it’s fair and that makes it kinda at odds with Capitalism. Masses of money is involved, but it’s oddly more sensibly spent than the weird world of The Premier League. I decided I need to learn about Draft Day and another Kevin Costner sports film was music to my ears as I like him, and crucially it’s on Netflix.
First fact bomb: The NFL’s draft day is really not a day, much like its games aren’t 80 minutes. Without knowing much about NFL machinations, Draft Day does take some settling into. Even if you do want to learn, it isn’t an easy thing to fully comprehend going off my various American friends and UK devotees’ opinions; the game has rising popularity and access on these shores.
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With real teams but fictional players and characters (I assume, I’m new to this) Costner’s General Manager for the Cleveland Browns is battling egos, executives and embroiled in Wall Street-esq hard line negotiation. The pressure is intense and Draft Day does slowly ramp up and build the pressure nicely. Fact bomb number two, the NFL employs an almost 1984 level of research into every aspect of a player’s life, stalking their history intrusively. Bear in mind these are college/university age young men with all their flaws, insecurities and idiosyncrasies.
While I find it distasteful, if you want to play the game you have to know the game, I guess. It’s all make or break as the various deadlines come and go and by the end I did feel as if I understood this phenomena better. Oh and I enjoyed the film, thanks Mary-Anne!
Bedsit it?
A sports film which doesn’t massively feel like a sports film, Draft Day will do very little for those without any interest in the NFL. It is, however, a fun drama which grips if you do. 7/10
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