Plot: Cleveland Browns manager Sonny Weaver (Kevin Costner) has the seventh draft pick, and he wheels and deals to improve his situation. Overlaid on this is his romance with team lawyer Ali (Jennifer Garner), the recent death of the father, and the belligerence from the team's coach Penn (Denis Leary.)[imdb] [photos]
by writers Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph sets up Sonny as a hard-working, lovable loser and creates a great climax as the draft plays out. In retrospect it seems so well designed.
My DW hates football and she liked the movie. Jennifer Garner's role is strong enough to keep her interested -- if fact she liked it much better than last week's Spiderman.
The conflict between Sonny and Leary's Coach Penn was necessary to ratchet up the tension.
Naturally, most of the trading is on the phone, and director Reitman has some clever devices to keep the image interesting as we see the people talking. I also liked the images of the stadia (stadiums,) and the draft. He made the draft look much cooler than if probably actually is.
