If there’s a running theme in Kevin Costner‘s films for 2014, it’s recruitment. In “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” the title says it all, with Costner enlisting Chris Pine for some covert action, then in “3 Days To Kill” the actor himself is hired to kick some ass, Euro style. And then later on the spring, Costner will head downfield for “Draft Day” where the thrill of the titular event will be turned cinematic.
The film finds Costner playing Cleveland Browns general manager Sonny Weaver, who makes some bold moves that piss of his Mom and Denis Leary as he tries to build a great football team. We’re not sure how exciting it will be to watch what essentially seems like two hours of people talking on phones about trades, but the script by Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman wound up on top of the 2012 Black List so perhaps there’s more than meets eye here.
That said, Ivan Reitman is directing and it’s been a long time since that’s been a note worth celebrating. And with appearances by NFL & ESPN on-air talent such as Jon Gruden, Mike Mayock, Deion Sanders, Rich Eisen, Mel Kiper and Chris Berman, this feels half movie/have football advertainment. Guess we’ll see when “Draft Day” kicks off on April 11, 2014.