User reviews

This film centers around a high school football team in West Texas known as the Odessa-Permian Panthers who have set a standard of excellence that remains difficult for anybody else to surpass on the football field. However, with this success has come such a rabid devotion to this team by the local residents that an enormous amount of pressure is put upon everyone associated with the team in the process. So much so that the local residents and alumni not only expect a victory each and every time the team takes the field but they also demand it--or else! And this puts the new coach "Gary Gaines" (Billy Bob Thornton) in an especially difficult postion which only gets worse after he loses his star running back "Boobie Miles" (Derek Luke) to a season ending knee injury in the very first game. And things really get bad when he not only loses this game but another one not too long afterward. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, although there was some artistic license taken with the historical accuracy here and there, the film follows the basic plot of the book and makes for an enjoyable movie experience overall. I especially liked the manner in which the director (Peter Berg) managed to capture the West Texas environment as vividly as he did. Be that as it may, I enjoyed this movie and recommend it to all those who might be looking for a film of this type.

This movie was phenomenal in every way. It had incredible performances under a great director with a fantastic story to back it up.

It tells the story of a high school football team in Texas through the course of their 1988 season. Billy Bob Thorton played the coach of the team and give the best performance I've ever seen him give. The film was directed by Peter Berg who gave it a unique film style. He managed to tell this story in a very beautiful way.

Tim McGraw gives a great debut performance of an ex-high school football player who has become the drunken abusive father of one of the players currently on the team. He was almost unrecodnizable in this role and he portrayed it well. He, and the rest of the cast for that matter deserve a lot of credit.

This is the only football film I have ever seen that has done justice to what it feels like to play football in high school. I played under Friday night lights myself, that time of my life ended just a year ago and it still holds fresh in my memory. And because of that I can tell you how accurately this film portray's the sense of brotherhood and friendship that is felt by every team, at least every good football team.

Whether you ever played under Friday night lights yourself or not anyone should be able to appreciate this film.

This is a very dark sports movie. It's about fanaticism, the great weight of importance certain people place on sports. Sports fans often regard their teams as extensions of themselves. In "Friday Night Lights," the entire town of Odessa, Texas collectively puts their town's reputation on the shoulders of a high school football team. It's basically the same exact plot as "Varsity Blues," except a serious version of high school football in small town Texas.

One thing the movie does extremely well is taking hackneyed plots of the individual players (because it's all been done before) and putting them all in the background. So the plots play out not in a cheesy, inspirational, in-your-face way. Instead, they are just there with only as much attention as the viewer wants to put on them. The great aspects of sports are enough to keep us interested and makes the movie incredibly real.

The only character whose plot is really focused on is Boobie, the cocky running back who is injured and tries to defy his own injury. This is a plot in sports movies that has been focused on somewhat - the injured player. But never before has the pain been so real and so powerful.

This movie is heart-wrenching. Sports movies usually have so many moments of redemption and cheesy happiness that often feel false. This movie only has one such moment and it is incredibly powerful. Nothing about this movie is Hollywood. Billy Bob Thorton gives a great, understated performance as the coach, a man who is simply internal, who can do nothing but sit back and watch events unfold, knowing full well the impact that each game has on himself and his family. All the actors playing the football players do a good job, especially the guy who plays Boobie.

Don't expect this movie to uplift you. But it will show you an interesting side of sports you may have never considered. And, in the end, it shows exactly what is great about sports, and it has nothing to do with winning or making a career out of the game. It's about giving all you have for a teammate.

When I saw that Friday Night Lights was based on a true story, I expected something monumental to happen during the course of the film. But the story that unfolded was fairly standard. No major plot twists or unusual obstacles occurred, so I kept wondering why this story needed to be told. I was also a little distracted by the cinematography, which was trying to emulate a documentary, and so the camera was constantly panning, tilting, and zooming. And, aside from two or three characters, everyone else felt like a one-dimensional extra. I liked Friday Night Lights, but I guess I just expected more.

Based on a book, this movie does a really good job following a Texas high school football team through their season while dealing with themes of expectations, racism, and class. I'm not sure if this is better than the series or not. There's pros and cons to both. But the movie captures everything in just 2 hours and keeps you engaged and excited throughout. There's also some great sport action scenes and music and edits. It's definitely a strong sports drama that's always worth watching. Definitely recommend this to anyone. IMDb needs to chilllllllll with this stupid character minimum expectation.

When I first heard of this movie, I immediately let it go under my radar because I am not a big fan of sports movies. However, I am a huge fan of the Texas band Explosions in the Sky and when I heard a few months ago that they scored most of the soundtrack for Friday Night Lights, it was compulsory that I check it out.

It turns out that I freaking love this movie. The cinematography is nicely done, comprising wide, sweeping shots of Texas plains, oil-rigs, and football fields. The colors come through nicely (the white and black of the jerseys is particularly nice). As I already mentioned, I am not a big sports fan, but from what I could tell, the football sequences were well done and quite intense.

The acting is superbly executed by most in the film. However, there are still one or two times when one of the players' lines is delivered with that all-too-well-known teen-acting cheesiness that almost makes me cringe a little. Those times aside, the acting works wonderfully.

As I already mentioned, the reason why I initially watched this movie, was because Explosions in the Sky did the score. In my opinion, every song that they wrote (or adapted from previously written songs) for this movie lends beautifully to the content. Their lush soundscapes play nicely alongside the beautiful fields of Texas (no surprise, since TX is their home). Their crescendo-laden rock happens also to fit perfectly with slow-motion sequences (which there are plenty of in Friday Night Lights).

I am sure that almost all of the other reviews here have touched on the fact that this football movie does not play like other football movies (with all of the regular sport movie clichés). Because of this, I won't go into that. My thoughts are, if you like football (and also enjoy genuinely good cinema) OR if you aren't really a big fan of football (and also enjoy genuinely good cinema), you will probably dig Friday Night Lights.

So go and buy the DVD; and while you are at the store, pick up an Explosions in the Sky CD.

Lots of great actors with powerful performances throughout! Somber moments and inspirational sports story. Peter Berg is a great director for many projects I'm glad the movie was at least nominated. Even though I gave it a 7 I thoroughly enjoyed the bulk of everything that occurs.

To be honest, I went to this movie primarily to see Christian Kane, but the reviews had been excellent. I expected a cross between All the Right Moves and Remember the Titans, but it was nothing like the second, which was about two coaches forced to make their teams blend into one while avoiding racial problems. There were elements of All the Right Moves, though, as several of the young men expressed their desire to get out of Odessa through football, but the movie focused on several of them rather than just one. Its best companion piece in my opinion is the Texas Cheerleader Murder, which shows the same football madness from the other gender as they will do anything to be cheerleaders!

Billy Bob Thornton was excellent as the coach, facing pressure on all sides to win the state championship. An excellent touch was the large number of for sale signs on his lawn after his team was blown away in the game following Boobie's injury. The community put pressure on the boys as well, everyone who owned a state championship ring from prior years pushing them in the kids' faces. Tim McGraw was a revelation as Brian's abusive father, and the actress who was Mike Winchell's mother gave a brilliant performance.

All of the young actors were excellent, especially Derek Luke as the unfortunate Boobie. He made the audience feel his pain and frustration. Lucas Black, who had done such a marvelous job in American Gothic, has a face that reflects his pain as he faces all of his tribulations, which include the pressure of suddenly becoming the team's best hope when Boobie is out and of having a mother with mental and/or emotional problems. Every one of them is a gem.

The cinematography was outstanding, and the shots of the town and the bleak surroundings certainly demonstrated why the kids wanted to get away. Despair hung in the air, with people clinging to their moments of glory as the only happy days of their entire lives. This was its primary likeness to All the Right Moves, although the hated home town was a Pennsylvania steel town (Johnstown, PA, which I escaped from myself), not a Texas prairie city.

And what made things even more intense was that this was a true story. Showing the boys' fates at the end was an excellent conclusion.

And Christian Kane? I knew he only had a cameo, as he had told Peter Berg that he'd love to be in the movie and would take any part there was. He was the man in the restaurant/bar who asked Mike Winchell if he'd take a picture with him & his kid. He was long-haired, unshaven, and, to be honest, if I'd seen him this way first, I'd never have given him a second look. He did a good job as a "good ole boy," though!

"Gentlemen. The hopes and dreams of an entire town are riding on your shoulders. You may never matter more than you do right now. It's time."—Coach Gary Carter addressing his team.

For years, the Buzz Bissinger's book "Friday Nights Lights" has been proclaimed as the greatest football book ever written. The story is about the 1988 Permian Panthers from Odessa, Texas. In the book, Bissinger illustrates how much high school football effects a town in West Texas that has basically nothing to live for. Almost everyone in Odessa is poor, train tracks divide the town the white and black communities and the school system is below average, yet on Friday Nights (as the tag-line of the movie says) "Hope comes alive".

The thing that I like most about the movie was the it didn't go away from the book too much and the movie tried to imply the same themes as the book did. Anyway, let's get to the actual movie now.

Unlike most sports movies where the viewer is spending about two-thirds of the movie trying to figure out who all the characters are, "Lights" actually does a good job in identifying all the characters. For example, you will know who "Boobie" Miles is (the Panthers' star running back) right when the movie starts. Another unique thing about "Lights" is that when watching, it feels like the viewer is watching a documentary, because movie does a great job on including detail on the attitude the town and players carry throughout the story and highlights from EVERY game are shown (something that never happens in sports movies).

The characters in "Lights" make the movie great, especially "Boobie" Miles (played by Derek Luke). Boobie is not only the best runner on the team, he is probably the best running back in the state. On one play, he broke three tackles and burned two other defenders. The only thing that faster than his legs is...his mouth. He makes Terrell Owens and Freddie Mitchell look modest. Whenever a member of the media talks to him, he proclaims that he is God gift to football and how God made Boobie beautiful and all that junk. When asked about his grades he replies "I'm an athlete, I make straight A's". Boobie is obviously not smart, when he was reading one of his recruitment letters from the University of Southern California, he sounded like a five-year old. Football and his uncle L.V. are the only two things that Boobie has going for him.

The main character of the movie is Coach Gary Carter (played by Billie Bob Thornton). Coach Carter's job is not an easy one. Throughout the movie, he is constantly bugged by boosters and supports telling him that he should imply this scheme or this player should play this position, Coach Carter just ignores them, but he knows that expectations are very high in Odessa (especially if they are the favorites to go the Texas Bowl).

Another character(s) that make the movie great is Don Billingsley (played by Garrett Hedlund) and his father Charles (played by country superstar Tim McGraw). Don probably feels the pressure of playing for the Panthers more than anyone because his dad as on a state championship team for the Panthers and his dad is also an alcoholic. During the first practice of the season when Don fumbled the ball, Charles came running out of the stands and when yelling at his son about "some little fumble". Don is ashamed by his father which is why he probably the biggest playboy on the team as well. However, Don is one tough kid (as evident in the final game).

Football is the only thing that Odessa cares about, after a loss a person calls-in a local radio station to say "there's too much learning going on at that school!" On Friday Nights, all the businesses are closed, the Ratliff Stadium (where the Panthers play) is packed an hour before kickoff and everyone is wearing black and white.

The game scenes are the best part of the movie. Some of the hits are so hard, it would put Terry Tate to shame, especially in the final game of the story. That game scene was the best I have ever saw because it captured everything that goes on during a football game (trash talk, adjustments, dirty play, emotion, etc.) Where does Friday Night Lights among football movies? Personally, I think it's the best football movie of all time. I have played football for nine years and I have seen about every single football movie ever made and I will have to say that this film truly captures what football REALLY is. If you are a sports fan, you will love this movie.

GRADE: 9.5 out of 10.

FOOTBALL GRADE: TOUCHDOWN with the 2-point conversion

Good movie with a nice story. lots of good montages and intense scenes. really shows the love of football. some emotional parts as well, although I thought some of the side stories were unnecessary like the crazy mom (1 viewing)

I rented this movie primarily on the strengths of Billy Bob Thornton. I think he takes on consistently good roles. This movie had a lot to offer in terms of plot. Rural Texas is big on football, often more so than on academics. The plot point came out in the movie, but seemed to be glossed over to a large degree.

One of the subplots also deals with the relationship between a father, a past high school football champ, and his son who has the opportunity to become a state champ. It is a contentious relationship, but the movie failed to explore that relationship beyond a superficial level.

Perhaps the greatest distraction in this film is the awful directing by Peter Berg of the football action sequences. They were very unrealistic and "over the top" so that they seemed more like a John Madden video game than a high school football game.

The acting was good and the plot was sufficient to prevent this from being a truly horrible film. If you are a sports movie fan, there is a likelihood that you will like this movie much better than I did. However, I was expecting a little more realism and a little more character depth than I saw in this movie.

I am not a professional movie reviewer. And I did not play for Permian.

I have seen many great high school football movies including Remember the Titans, All The Right Moves, Radio, Varsity Blues and others and there is nothing better than non-fiction. My high school coach made us read this book during summer ball and I can honestly state that this is what West Texas High School Football is all about. No matter what the "Movie Review Nerds" say, this is great story. Watch it, watch it again and buy the DVD for your kids. Teach these values to your kids. Forget about preconceived notions about the actors.

THIS IS WHAT FOOTBALL IS ALL ABOUT!!

"Friday Night Lights" is perhaps the flashiest sports film ever made. With its rapid-fire cutting and artsy angles, it at times borders on visual genius. The performances are equally lively, with Billy Bob Thornton shining as the small town high school football coach who shifts seamlessly from patting backs to shouting at faces. His roster, meanwhile, is sprinkled with young talents like Derek Luke as Boobie Miles, the spoiled next big thing, and Lucas Black as Mike Winchell, the introverted team leader.

Unfortunately, other aspects of "Friday Night Lights" hover around the average mark. The story offers little in the way of originality, except for perhaps the ending (if you haven't seen it, I won't spoil it for you). It's basically your typical high-school-sports-team-carrying-great-expectations tale. Director Peter Berg tries covering as many worthwhile human angles as he can. A star player must deal with the end of his career. The coach is shunned by fans taking the game way too seriously. Young men must balance the confusion of early adulthood with the stress of being sports icons. Again, it's nothing we haven't seen before ("Hoosiers" and "The Program" come to mind).

Although it's based on the true story of Texas's Permian High Panthers, "Friday Night Lights" has a decidedly Hollywoodish feel. Perhaps out of necessity -- cramming an entire book into two hours is a gargantuan task -- the characters seem too oversimplified to be real. The Panthers are a diverse bunch, but they're also clichéd: he's the troubled one, he's the one who has trouble with girls, he's the one from a broken home. And while Berg's directorial style is electric, it hampers his ability to capture a small town feel so crucial to the film succeeding.

Those behind "Friday Night Lights" deserve an "A" for effort, something you certainly can't say about every film. But what it delivers in style it generally lacks in substance.

Few films are truly elevated by their soundtracks, but the scores/songs composed by Explosions in the Sky capture the solitude of youth in suffocating situations (lost in their father's dreams, the isolation of a small Texas town, the aimlessness of high school etc.).

My wife went to Carter High School in Dallas, TX back in the early 2000s and it was refreshing to see how the ending was realistic. Great story from their point of view though!

Being french (did I hear French? where is the guillotine?) I watched this movie as I am a great fan of both Peter Berg and Billy Bob Thornton (especially as a coach in a comedy or a drama). I am a stranger to American football as it is not on TV in Europe in spite of a few attempts.

For a foreigner, it is such a great experience to watch this movie as it shows a few things that are so different to our world in ol' Europe and how sport, its history and how it is integrated into culture in some countries such as England or the US.

It is interesting also in a sense that it shows that in poor areas of the US, the American dream is only possible through getting in a college and may be in a sport team and one is at the mercy of a potential debilitating injury.

The pressure of "old hands" players who know best on the coach, the people outside of the game who also think they know is marvellous.

Anyway, if you do not know anything about American culture and its sport, it is probably one of the best movie to watch.

The best thing about "Friday Night Lights" is how it exposes the small town obsession with high school football. In Odessa, Texas, where the story is set, businesses shut down and radio sports commentators opine with the pretentious air of political pundits when the Permian Panthers take to the field. Now this is some serious football country, as the mood of the town fluctuates with the win/loss record of the team and family dynamics follow along with the ebb and flow of the season. It may be that somebody down there in Odessa just seriously needs to get a life.

Based on the book by H.G. Bissinger, the film recounts the 1988 season when Coach Gary Gaines, despite the loss of his best player, still managed to carry his team to the state championships.

Unfortunately, the storyline and characters in the film are not always as interesting as the setting and milieu. The drama is occasionally lacking and many of the characters rank as little more than hoary sports movie clichés: the supportive coach's wife; the abusive, alcoholic father trying to relive his high school glory days through his son; the cocky star player humbled by the exigencies of a cruel fate. Yet, the film has assets that help it to overcome some of the weaknesses of the script. Billy Bob Thornton plays Gaines as a thoughtful, even-tempered individual who knows what it takes to win but understands that life does not begin and end on the football field. His inspirational locker room speech towards the close is restrained, pointed and well delivered. In fact, the coach seems far less obsessed with winning than many of the ordinary folks he runs into - and has to take unsolicited advice from - on a daily basis. It is that pressure to win at all costs - placed not only on the boys but on the coach as well - that the movie dramatizes so effectively. The film also makes it clear that, for many of these boys, football is the only ticket they will ever have out of small town America.

"Friday Night Lights" isn't nearly as compelling and involving as "Remember the Titans," but die-hard football fans won't be complaining.

POSTSCRIPT (2014). Little did I imagine at the time I wrote this review that "Friday Night Lights" would one day become my favorite TV series of all time.