Friday Night Lights

Universal Pictures | Release Date: October 8, 2004

7.2	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 81 Ratings

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User Reviews

User score By date Most helpful

DanielVJun 22, 2009

You have to be into sports especially football to really appreciate this work.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

TylerDJul 28, 2007

One of the best, if not THE best sports film of all time. Myself being a fan of Explosions in the Sky only improves how much I enjoyed the movie, as well. Billy Bob Thorton at his best.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

RitaP.Jan 30, 2006

Great moving film, you don't need to love gridiron to throroughly enjoy it. If you rent the DVD, the special features especially the doco on the 88 Permian Panthers is well worth watching too.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

FraserW.Mar 12, 2006

In my opinion i look at Remember the Titans and The Longest Yard but none of them can even compare with Friday Night Lights.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

MarkB.Oct 12, 2004

It's a good thing that James "Radio" Kennedy, the mentally challenged kid played by Cuba Gooding, Jr. in Radio, the sentimental football drama released almost exactly a year ago, hung around the high school football team in Anderson, SC It's a good thing that James "Radio" Kennedy, the mentally challenged kid played by Cuba Gooding, Jr. in Radio, the sentimental football drama released almost exactly a year ago, hung around the high school football team in Anderson, SC rather than the Odessa, TX one depicted here. Chances are, if he'd even come close to interrupting or disrupting a practice, the subhuman, mouth-breathing football worshippers of the town (which, according to Friday Night Lights, pretty much consists of ALL the town) would've beaten him to within a half-inch of his life and left him for dead near the exit ramp. Exceedingly well made but profoundly (and necessarily) depressing and disturbing, Peter Berg's account of the Panthers' 1988 season comes off as so virulently anti-football and anti-football culture that it makes North Dallas Forty look like Knute Rockne, All American by comparison! Don't blame the doctor, though, for accurately diagnosing the sickness (although, come to think of it, one of the film's characters does just that!) This is a town where gridiron boosterism degenerates to Nuremberg Rally levels; where the father who gets the most screen time is a drunken, abusive cretin (courageously played by country icon Tim McGraw) who harrasses his son repeatedly and endlessly about dropping the ball--if you ever wanted to make an argument for the mandatory sterilization of unfit fathers, there's Exhibit A! Even the superficially sympathetic coach (Billy Bob Thornton, following up Bad Santa and The Alamo with his third all-time world class performance) is in no way to be confused with the altruistic and heroic Davy Crockett; beneath all the apparent heart-to-heart talks with the players and Big Speeches in the locker room is a completely self-serving opportunist who sees his players not as human beings but only as means to his own survival. (If you're not convinced of the latter point, go back and study how Berg films the coach's removal of the players' labels in the final scenes.) With his relentless, nervous camerawork, use of dark, gritty textures and endless uncomfortably extreme close-ups, Berg has made a film that looks a whole lot more like a prison documentary than a sports movie, and I think that's the whole point: the team's moments of joy, triumph or elation are extremely fleeting while pain, agony and frustration are dwelt upon almost to the level of the crucifixion in a certain controversial Mel Gibson-made movie. (There's not even much fun to be had in the early, post-game party sequences: the two sexual encounters we see result immediately in emotional rawness not often seen outside the films of Neil LaBute.) Don't forget: the co-writer/director is the same Peter Berg who a few years ago gave us Very Bad Things, a slashing, darker-than-dark satire (which I think I was the only person in the world not related to Berg who actually liked!) about people who absolutely don't care who they hurt (or, more often, kill) to get their share of The American Dream. One word I hope to God nobody uses to describe Berg's current film is "inspirational"--unless, of course, it means inspiring Monday Night Football watchers to switch to watching the Lifetime Original Monday Night Movie with the missus and never watching football again!… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

JoeyG.Jun 2, 2006

If i could give this a 11 i would give it a 15 this is the best sports movie ive seen and one of the best movies overall ive seen........i was blown away by the amazing passion and hear the actors were able to put in this amazing sports story.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

JacobC.Apr 19, 2006

Greatest Football Movie since the Progam this movie was awesome.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

BrandonL.Feb 17, 2008

The script was complete crap so how could the movie be good. The book was amazing and helped keep up the energy of the game and the social aspect of the town, but the movie changed facts and made some moments "feel good" moments when in The script was complete crap so how could the movie be good. The book was amazing and helped keep up the energy of the game and the social aspect of the town, but the movie changed facts and made some moments "feel good" moments when in actuality they were horrible times.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

SpangleJan 17, 2014

While I know this came first, seeing this in comparison to the TV series is like night and day. On one hand, the TV series is phenomenal. On the other, this is not. The story just feels so abbreviated and hastened. The great part about the TVWhile I know this came first, seeing this in comparison to the TV series is like night and day. On one hand, the TV series is phenomenal. On the other, this is not. The story just feels so abbreviated and hastened. The great part about the TV series was that while it was about football, of course, it was about so much more than that. It was about the characters and their daily lives and then how everyone would unite on Friday to play football. In the movie, and this is to my point about the abbreviated nature of the movie, a lot of the characterization was missing and it ultimately felt almost impersonal. Sadly, this is why I could not enjoy this one a ton. Now, it was an ok movie and all, but cerainly not as great as I would have hoped. This story is clearly just better suited for television where everything can be explored in greater depth.… Expand