Friday Night Lights Reviews

Excellent movie

Great movie, basically a coach takes over the local highschool american football team. The poor town is obsessed with the team and it is all about the kids and the coach trying to overcome the local pressure. Really gets you involved in the characters, ending is great.

[Highly rated reviewer]

The Macho Last Picture Show

Based on a true story of a season in a Texas High School's football team, mixing a documentary look with more stylised shots, this is probably the best American Football film that I've seen. If you enjoy American Football you'll love this film and if you like films there's a lot to take from this as well. Touching upon so many different themes, the film is very understated and doesn't feel like it's hammering you over the head with its script, unlike Crash. It has shades of The Last Picture Show about it, which can never be a bad thing and it's one of the best I've seen from 2005.

fascinating, gripping sports film

I don't like American football. I don't understand how it works. And yet I was completely won over by this film.

High school sport is huge in America, particularly Texas. In the dustblown oil city of Odessa, on the flat, arid Texas plain, it's the only game in town. This film makes absolutely clear the kind of pressure that's put on high school kids - they are reliving their parents' dreams and aspirations. The bland country singer Tim McGraw makes a huge impression in this film - a superb portrayal of a drunken abusive ex-player, who says to his son something like 'This is it - you have one year - everything's downhill from there on'. And that sums up the film: a bunch of 17 year old kids must carry all the hopes and fears of an entire town - to a climactic battle in the Houston superdome that even if you don't know anything about American football will still leave you with your heart in your mouth.

The story's told in snatches of conversation, radio commentary, little telling scenes. It takes you a while to work out who the characters are, but don't worry - you'll get there. You are given just enough detail to work with and no more than you need. Lucas Black stands out as the strong, silent kid with too much responsibility, but all are good.

I just can't believe how good this rather unpromising film was. I'm still thinking about it two weeks later. The ending - well, read the captions carefully. There's a lovely, ironic twist to look out for.

It's based on a true story, apparently. It feels like it. It really is one of the best American films I've seen in ages... if you're at all interested in the fact that America really is a foreign country, watch this film.

NonSense for NonAmerican

If you support the American crusade against cinema (and art in general), 'friday night light' will become your favorite movie. For the others, don't even watch the trailer, that will make you sick. This movie is full of clichés supporting NeoConservatism, Nationalism, Paternalism, Christianism even rascism (not in a descriptive way, in an implicit way which makes it worst). Honestly, I checked twice if W. Bush was the director...sadly, he wasn't

[Highly rated reviewer]

the book is supposed to be great

The film I wasn’t that into. I’m told the book has more of an expose about the town and it’s relationship to football. The film, for me, had too much sport and not enough character. The people in it are mostly one dimensional, and even if they are based on real people, on screen, you have to make these people engaging. The only person who was gripping to watch was, surprisingly, Tim McGraw, playing an alcoholic disillusioned football dad. It’s well made but doesn’t have the depth or humour of ‘North Dallas Forty’ with Nick Nolte, or for that matter ‘Slap Shot’ with Paul Newman, or the original ‘Bad News Bears’ with Walter Matthau. Not up there with other great sports films.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Not as good as the TV series

I watched this, having seen season 1 of the TV series of the same name. In it, the director Berg, takes the stories of the kids in this movie and another real-life story and uses them as a starting point for the characters around which that show is based.

Watching this movie for me was as if someone had sat down and edited all 3 Lord of the Rings movies into a 1 hour abridged version. You know there's a great story there, but because you haven't spent enough time with the characters it makes the highs and lows a lot less engaging.

If you want that feeling: rent out season 1 of the tv show.

brilliant sports movie

Billy Bob Thornton shows excellent ability again in this great sports movie. Lucas Black is good in the role of the quarterback. It shows how passionate people can be about American football.

very good

Best sports movie since Slapshot

A lot better than i expected...

I enjoyed this film. It's similar to a documentary (warts & all) and reveals how the whole of a small Texas town's hopes revolve around the fortunes of their local High School's football team. Apparently the book caused some outrage when it was first published.

It doesn't portray any of the characters in a good light and you end up feeling sorry for the players. It would put you off living in America, specifically Texas.