Draft Day
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''Draft Day'' is a 2014 American
sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
film directed by
Ivan Reitman Ivan Reitman (; October 27, 1946February 12, 2022) was a Czechoslovak-born Canadian filmmaker. He was best known for his comedy work, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. He was the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 1998. Film ...
and starring
Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actor ...
and
Jennifer Garner Jennifer Anne Garner (born April 17, 1972) is an American actress. Born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Charleston, West Virginia, Garner studied theater at Denison University and began acting as an understudy for the Roundabout Theatre Compa ...
. The premise revolves around the fictional
general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
of the
Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...
(Costner) deciding what to do after his team acquires the number one draft pick in the upcoming
National Football League draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...
. The film
premiered A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
on April 7, 2014 and was released in the United States on April 11, 2014. It received mixed reviews from critics and was a
box office failure A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
grossing only $29 million against its $25 million budget. The film was Reitman's final directorial effort before his death in 2022.


Plot

On the morning of the 2014 NFL Draft,
Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...
general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
Sonny Weaver Jr. must decide how to use the seventh overall pick to improve the team, but he has other problems on his mind. His semi-secret girlfriend Ali Parker, the team's
salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...
analyst, is pregnant, and the recent death of Sonny's father causes tension with his mother. Sonny had fired his father, a legendary coach for the Browns which he later admits was for his mother's sake because his father refused to retire even with failing health. The Seattle Seahawks hold the first overall draft pick, and general manager Tom Michaels offers to trade it to Sonny; this would allow the Browns to draft highly-rated
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
prospect Bo Callahan. Sonny initially declines, but under orders from team owner Anthony Molina to "make a splash," reluctantly makes the deal, trading away the Browns' first-round draft picks for the current season plus the next two years. The unexpected opportunity to obtain Callahan excites Browns fans, but splits the team's
front office The front office is the part of a company that comes in contact with clients, such as the marketing, sales, and service departments. The term has more specific meaning in different industries. Types General offices The function of front office ...
and players. The trade goes public after a tweet by
Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...
Vontae Mack, who had been Sonny's original choice as first pick. Vontae tells Sonny to re-watch college footage of him and Callahan playing against each other, with Mack coming out on top. Sonny begins to have doubts about Callahan's ability under pressure, and the Browns' investigations also bring Callahan's character into question. When the draft begins that evening, Sonny agonises over the choice before drafting Vontae Mack at number one. Roger Goodell's announcement of the selection shocks the rest of the league, and disrupts many of their plans for their own picks. Molina is irate and flies back to Cleveland, intent on firing Sonny. Head coach Vince Penn is also incensed and threatens to resign. Rumors spread about Callahan as other teams avoid selecting him. However, the Seahawks are still in contention to pick Callahan with the seventh pick, and Sonny senses an opportunity. He convinces the rookie general manager of the
Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...
to trade him their pick at six in exchange for the Browns' second-round draft picks for that season plus the next two years. Sonny then calls Michaels; in return for passing on Callahan, Sonny demands his first-round picks back, along with punt returner David Putney. After fraught negotiations, the Seahawks seal the deal and choose Callahan at sixth pick. With his now-restored seventh pick, Sonny appeases Penn and Molina by selecting skilled running back Ray Jennings of
Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...
, himself the son of a former Browns player. Molina and his team celebrate an outstanding draft for the Browns. After the draft party, Sonny reconciles with his mother over his excellent draft performance and her soon-to-be first grandchild.


Cast


Production

When the idea was first made public, the film was to be centered on the Buffalo Bills, but the studio subsequently changed it to the
Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...
because of cheaper production costs in
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. Crowd reactions of fans at the actual
2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall ...
, as well as Cleveland Browns fans at local bars, were filmed. Cameos with real-life NFL figures such as league commissioner Roger Goodell and
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
sportscaster
Chris Berman Christopher James Berman (born May 10, 1955), nicknamed "Boomer", is an American sportscaster. He has been an anchor for ''SportsCenter'' on ESPN since 1979, joining a month after its initial launch, and hosted the network's '' Sunday NFL Count ...
were filmed before and after the draft took place. The rest of the film began filming on May 8, 2013.


2014 NFL Draft

As in the film, the
Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...
made splashes at the draft, trading up to select quarterback
Johnny Manziel Johnathan Paul Manziel ( ; born December 6, 1992) is an American football quarterback for the FCF Zappers of Fan Controlled Football (FCF). He played two seasons with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) and was also a me ...
with the 22nd pick. The team also made several deals, trading away their fourth pick to the Buffalo Bills but for their ninth pick, as well as their 2015 first round pick. They later traded up to the eighth pick to draft
Justin Gilbert Justin Rodrell Gilbert (born November 7, 1991) is an American football cornerback for the Sioux City Bandits of Champions Indoor Football (CIF). He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the eighth pick in the 2014 NFL Draft after playing col ...
. Finally, after watching Manziel drop farther than projected, they again traded up for the 22nd pick.
Chris Berman Christopher James Berman (born May 10, 1955), nicknamed "Boomer", is an American sportscaster. He has been an anchor for ''SportsCenter'' on ESPN since 1979, joining a month after its initial launch, and hosted the network's '' Sunday NFL Count ...
, who played himself in the fictionalized draft, commented at the 2014 NFL Draft that the events surrounding the Cleveland Browns were more exciting than the film. Unlike the film, the Browns selected the much-hyped Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, as opposed to passing on Bo Callahan, the fictionalized first pick favorite.


Marketing

The first poster and trailer for the film were released on December 23, 2013.


Reception


Box office

The film grossed $28.8 million in North America with an additional $604,801 overseas for a worldwide total of $29.5 million, against a budget of $25 million. The film grossed $9.8 million in its opening weekend, finishing in fourth place at the box office behind '' Captain America: The Winter Soldier'', ''
Rio 2 ''Rio 2'' is a 2014 American 3D computer-animated musical comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Carlos Saldanha. It is the sequel to the 2011 computer-animated film ''Rio'' and the second installment of the ''Rio'' franchise. ...
'', and ''
Oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following Architecture * Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...
'' (the latter two also being new releases).


Critical response

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 60% based on 162 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "It's perfectly pleasant for sports buffs and Costner fans, but overall, ''Draft Day'' lives down to its title by relying too heavily on the sort of by-the-numbers storytelling that only a statistician could love."
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
assigned the film a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...
'' critic
Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...
gave the film a "B", stating the film is "a sentimental, predictable, sometimes implausible but thoroughly entertaining, old-fashioned piece." On the contrary, Jack Hamilton of '' Slate'' was harshly critical. "The 'filmmaking' here consists of making sure the camera is pointed at people who are explaining the film's plot to one another, preferably while they are wearing logos and standing in front of more logos," he wrote. He suggested the NFL's involvement had made the film too upbeat. " tisn't so much a movie as a movielike infomercial for the kinder, gentler NFL ... In the wake of labor strife, off-field scandals, and the ongoing CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) crisis, the NFL is doubling down on its fantasy of paternalism, and ''Draft Day'' is that fantasy's porn film." Former Green Bay Packers vice president Andrew Brandt criticized ''Draft Day'' as "lacking any true depiction of how an NFL team operates leading up to and during the draft", and less realistic about the business of sports than ''
Jerry Maguire ''Jerry Maguire'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama sports film written, produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe; it stars Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, and Regina King. Produced in part by James L. Brooks, it was ins ...
'' and '' Moneyball''. The screenplay was the number one script on the 2012
Black List Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...
survey of unproduced screenplays and
WhatCulture WhatCulture Ltd. is an online entertainment news website and magazine which was launched in 2010. The site offers news in the field of professional wrestling, television, films, video games, and board games. History Originally started by Peter ...
listed it as the 10th best script of the 2010s. It was argued that the script "follows one of the central tenets of screenwriting which is, 'thou shalt make things as hard as possible for your protagonist'". However, it was also stated that "
ome Ome may refer to: Places * Ome (Bora Bora), a public island in the lagoon of Bora Bora * Ome, Lombardy, Italy, a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia * Ōme, Tokyo, a city in the Prefecture of Tokyo * Ome (crater), a crater on Mars Tran ...
of this high-octane drama was lost in the screen translation, which is a shame, since the script is as good as it gets."


References


External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Draft Day 2014 films 2010s sports drama films American drama films American football films Cleveland Browns Films directed by Ivan Reitman Films set in Cleveland Films shot in Cleveland Films scored by John Debney Summit Entertainment films The Montecito Picture Company films Lionsgate films Films produced by Ivan Reitman 2010s English-language films 2010s American films