New Draft Day Movie Received Mixed Reviews From Major Critics
Summit Entertainment (Lionsgate) released their new comedy/sports flick, “Draft Day” into theaters today, and the top critics have submitted their reviews. It turns out that it’s not a complete disaster, garnering up an overall mixed score of 52 out of a possible 100 across 23 reviews over at Metacritic.com.
The movie stars: Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Ellen Burstyn, Denis Leary, Frank Langella, Chadwick Boseman, and Sean Combs. We’ve added snippets from a few of the critics, below.
Richard Roeper at the Chicago Sun-Times, gave it a 75 score,saying, “A sentimental, predictable, sometimes implausible but thoroughly entertaining, old-fashioned piece.” Mick LaSalle over from the San Francisco Chronicle, gave it another 75, stating, ” Entertaining and suspenseful, the movie shows the politicking and strategies that go into this annual ritual, and Costner is at his beleaguered best.”
Todd McCarthy from The Hollywood Reporter, gave it a 70 grade. He stated: “In his most effective full star turn in perhaps a decade, Kevin Costner dominates as the greenhorn general manager of the beleaguered Cleveland Browns.” Scott Foundas over at Variety, gave it a 70 score, claiming, “Draft Day affords the simple but uncommon pleasure of watching intelligent characters who are passionate about what they do trying to do the best that they can.”
Scott Bowles at USA Today, gave it a 63. He said: “Draft’s reverence for the gridiron, its heroes and the cities that worship them (particularly Cleveland) will make the movie a first-round pick of diehards.” Michael Phillips from the Chicago Tribune, gave it a 63 score. He said: “Draft Day feels like a play, and I don’t mean a football play. It feels like a play-play at its sporadic best, in the same way J.C. Chandor’s 2011 “Margin Call” felt that way.”
Kenneth Turan over at the Los Angeles Times, gave it a 60 score. He stated: “This is an earnest and way-contrived endeavor that manages, due largely to Costner’s efforts, to be genially diverting in a gee-whiz kind of way.” Stephanie Merry from the Washington Post, gave it a 50 score. She said: “This isn’t a sports movie so much as a procedural about backroom dealings, double-crosses and high-stakes trades.”
A.O. Scott at the New York Times, gave it a 50 rating, saying, “I don’t really buy Draft Day — it’s a shallow and evasive movie, built more around corporate wish fulfillment than around reality — but I have to say that it sells itself beautifully.” Peter Keough from the Boston Globe, gave it a 38 score. He stated: “It’s a big deal for the NFL and ESPN, no doubt, and Draft Day serves as 110 minutes of product placement for both.”
Kyle Smith over at the New York Post, gave it a 25 grade, saying, “Draft Day is lumbering and predictable, and its hero general manager is so dumb it should have been called “Dummyball.” Finally, Elizabeth Weitzman from the New York Daily News, gave it a really bad 20 score.
She stated: “Haven’t Cleveland fans suffered enough? Not only have they never won a Super Bowl, but now the Browns serve as the center of Ivan Reitman’s painfully creaky sports drama.” Stay tuned. Also, get your favorite Movie stuff, and more by Clicking Here.
