In hopes that he can land their team’s next franchise quarterback, the Cleveland Browns’ general manager [GM], Sonny Weaver [Kevin Costner] trades up for the first overall pick in the draft. Not only is Weaver looking to save his job, but he is also looking to save the future of his team.

In Weaver’s desperate attempt to make a splash, he trades his first round picks for the next three years to the Seattle Seahawks to have the number one overall pick.

The projected number one pick in the draft is quarterback Bo Callahan out of Wisconsin (all players, coaches, and GMs in this movie are completely fictional). After the trade, the pressure is on for Weaver to decide what to do with the first pick in the draft.

For those who do not know the history of the Cleveland Browns, it is a pretty heartbreaking story. In 1995, owner Art Modell announced he would be moving the team to Baltimore, and the team became known as the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens went on to win Super Bowl XXXV in 2000; a championship that most would say belonged to the city of Cleveland.

The franchise was halted for a few years until operations for the Browns resumed in 1999. Since the franchise resumed, the Browns have only had two winning seasons.

What I really like about this movie is that we get an up-close look of how teams do their business with one another. Since they worked with the National Football League [NFL] while filming this movie, I would say it’s mostly accurate in what is portrayed.

I still do not understand why a GM in the NFL would trade away his first round picks for the next three years for a player they have not even done their research on; this does not happen in real life.

I know that there was a lot of buzz around Callahan as the first overall pick, but the GM has to make sure that the first pick is his guy before he does something that bold. It did not make a single bit of sense to me.

Also, this movie is the only time that I have seen NFL commissioner Roger Goodell take the draft stage without getting booed. He must have been pretty proud of that.

Overall, it is not exactly a must-see film. I would not call it a bust either because I liked it. Football fans should find it amusing.

3/5