Johnny Football

Watching this documentary, you never feel any sympathy for Johnny. He comes off as a complete jerk who has not matured at all, who has no regrets despite an epic fail that was obviously the result of very poor, regrettable choices, and as someone who was clearly enhancing his natural talents.

I feel like there is a decent human being with deep regrets and a potential for redemption. A good journalist / filmmaker would have tapped into that Johnny, or let us know that that Johnny doesn't exist.

Ultimately this tells you nothing g interesting or real and it's not worth watching, which is sad because Johnny Football was magic.

Johnny Manziel is a polarizing character in the sports world so it makes sense that his documentary would bw too. The rise of Manziel was very well done. Pacing is well done, Manziel is very charismatic and take's from his handlers, his parents, his coaches including a ton from Kliff Kingsbury was usually gripping, funny and entertaining.

Why this doesn't work if the breakdown of his time with the Browns feels very rushed compared to his time at Texas A&M. They went from covering to Game by Game to not covering a single game. Then his CFL and other football endeavors after he was kicked out of the NFL went completely uncovered.,This is such a big part of his legacy (he was demoted to 4th string QB on the Hamilton Tigercats) and it is not even touched upon., This documentary feels like it came out in 20165 in that regard which is disappointing.

This then comes off as feeling like a ego boosting puff piece for a guys whose ego doesn't need one. So ultimately I did enjoy what i got here, the tone seems really off. It is not a good piece of journalism but it get me entertained. Throw in some fun celebrity cameos and it isn't a terrible watch .., but not a must watch.

I'm coming from the outside on this one, having very little (if not practicaly no) knowledge of the general culture and stories around American Football, especially not the college ball scene. To all of us outside of the US, the strength of the college football scene is incredible.

As for this guy, Johnny 'Football' Manziel, it's not exactly a new story in sport. Across every major sport, there's 1000 of these stories, and we can all highlight some major similarities from Europe, for example Freddy Adu, Islam Feruz, Delle Alli and so on. Great talents who never reached the great heights once forecast for them. We all even know a guy from our school days who we grew up who could fit in this category too.

This is an interesting documentary, although I acknowledge having read up further after watching this documentary, that there is a lot of different ways to tell the story and that also much is missing. However, it doesn't paint the guy out to be any angel, and there's no real Road to Damscus moments either. He is just at heart a record breaking college frat boy who just couldn't grow out of that trance.

The documentary gives enough talking heads to give some opinion and colour, and despite any negative comments, he does manage to reach the NFL when so many others don't even come close. We see though his lack of maturity and responsibility, so no one is surprised on how it all pans out.

I found it very interesting. Happy to see that the documentary doesn't try to pin the blame on others, and all the player himself to take the flak at the end. A fine documentary in what has been a fine series on Netflix.

I've lived in Cleveland all my life and remember when and where I was when Johnny was drafted. At the time, he was a colossal pain to a city who put a ton of faith and pressure on the shoulders of a kid. Not everyone is built for that, and he certainly was not. I didn't have sympathy for him at the time, but I certainly do now.

This piece doesn't excuse any of his bad behavior or actions and in fact, society could have done a bit more to make him truly accountable. If you're not from Cleveland, you didn't have the opportunity to watch this kid implode first-hand. I think he's learned a lot and still has a lot to learn. If you've experienced substance abuse or mental illness first-hand, you'll have a soft spot for him in the end and hopefully wish him well in the future; you can't help but feel sad for him.

The most I can say about the way this documentary was pieced together is, it really makes Johnny look just how everyone sees him: A kid whose parents are 100% the reason Johnny ended up the way he did in life; parents letting Johnny do whatever he wants, and parents who would lie and be unethical to help their kid advance his way through life rather than force change and take accountability. I wonder if the parents are that tone deaf to even realize how badly they came off in this documentary.

For those familiar with Manziel and his story, this documentary offers little in terms of new material. At best, it just reaffirms suspicions most college football fans had about the rampant drinking, partying, alcohol, and improper benefits. The construction of this documentary was poorly laid out. Manziel's lightning-in-the-bottle, SEC record setting freshman season at Texas A&M was glossed over in less than 10 minutes of total content to pave way for the longer, drawn-out story of improper benefits (selling autographs). Scheming sobriety for the draft was a large portion of the film, as well. Manziel's season with the Cleveland Browns and his performance meltdown was incredibly terse, choosing to highlight battles off-field rather than on-field performances. About 90% of this documentary was solely focused on improper benefits and Johnny's addictions. What happened after Johnny's time with the Browns is completely omitted, as if it never even happened, including getting kicked out of the CFL.

The only way I'd tell someone to watch this documentary is if they needed help clearing their conscious, so that they don't feel any empathy toward the Manziel's...