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Friday Night Lights

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Friday Night Lights (2004)

82%
90%
85%
N/A
N/A
N/A
82 %
Reviews Counted: 160 Fresh: 131  Rotten:29 Average Rating: 7.2/10
 
Consensus: An acute survey of the football-obsessed heartland that succeeds as both a stirring drama and a rousing sports movie.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Rated: 12A

Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins

Theatrical Release: 13-05-2005

Synopsis: From OscarŽ-winning producer Brian Grazer and Imagine Entertainment and based on the best-selling book about high school football by H.G. Bissinger, Friday Night Lights chronicles the entire 1988 season of the Permian High Panthers of Odessa, Texas, with football players, coaches,... From OscarŽ-winning producer Brian Grazer and Imagine Entertainment and based on the best-selling book about high school football by H.G. Bissinger, Friday Night Lights chronicles the entire 1988 season of the Permian High Panthers of Odessa, Texas, with football players, coaches, mothers, fathers, pastors, boosters, fans and families struggling with ongoing personal conflicts while the team fights for a state championship. A town for sale, Odessa, Texas has seen better days--the financial bust evident in its boarded-up shops and broken lives. Yet one hope sustains the community where, once a week during the fall, the town and its dreams come alive beneath the dazzling and disorienting Friday night lights...when the Permian High Panthers take to the field. In a city where economic uncertainty has eroded the spirit of its inhabitants, nearly everyone seeks comfort in the religion of the Friday night ritual, where the unfulfilled dreams of an entire community are shifted onto the shoulder pads of a team of high-school athletes. Friday Night Lights captures the frenzy of a small town that reveres its school team and their weekly games. With Odessa standing in for places just like it all across America, the film provides an illuminating look at the hoped-for successes and the built-in failures of trying to live the American Dream through the efforts of a group of talented young men. The film is produced by Academy AwardŽ winner Brian Grazer, directed by Peter Berg (The Rundown, Very Bad Things) and adapted from Bissinger's book by Berg and David Aaron Cohen (The Devil's Own). -- © Universal Pictures [More]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Tim McGraw, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, Lucas Black

Director: Peter Berg
Screenwriter: Peter Berg, David Aaron Cohen
Producer: Brian Grazer
Composer: Explosions in the Sky

DVD Info

Release:

Jun 8, 2007

[DVD Details]

UMD Features:

  • Keep Case
  • Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35
  • Dual (Single Sided)

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Deleted Scenes

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image
N/A

Had Billy Bob Thornton not been so good in so many films, people would be talking about this as his greatest role.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/31/08
Richard Luck
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

The affecting, gruelling result is less a document of recreational sport than one of obligation and ordeal.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/24/06
Ben Walters
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
5/5

The best sports movie for years, as it's not about sport at all. Forget fears of jingoistic grandstanding, this is an un-American all-American tale that deserves attention.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/01/06
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
4/5

Thornton anchors the film with his understated but no less effective performance but the stand-out is Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher) - the scene where he finally realises that his football career is over is truly heartbreaking to watch.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/14/05
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
Ratings Image
2/5

Its script is pure corn, drenched in syrupy sentiment and topped with prize ham in the shape of Billy Bob Thornton's tub-thumping coach.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/10/05
Neil Smith
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/5

There's nothing particularly universal or relevant about this place- and sport-specific ode to American football. Although it's a gripping and watchable true story.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/18/05
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image
4/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Mark Halverson
Sacramento News & Review
Ratings Image
N/A

Few films have shown so powerfully the slashing double edge of sports fever.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/01/07
David Ansen
Newsweek
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3/5

The script spends at least as much time exploring the psychologies of the young players and the problems they face at home as it does rallying the audience behind their efforts on the field.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/14/07
Rick Kisonak
Film Threat
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N/A

A heart-pounding big-screen treatment that captures all the action of a tumultuous season while showing the emotional toll on the players.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/26/07
Andrea Gronvall
Chicago Reader
Ratings Image
2.5/4

While the atmosphere is excellent, and the general elements all strong, the film sadly fails to give any real insight or depth in regards to explaining the hows and whys of the near fever over the game and its players.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/30/06
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Ratings Image
4/4

You'll leave the theater somewhat emotionally spent -- feeling like you've been tackled by a 220-pound linebacker -- but it's worth the ride. One of the best sports movies ever.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/22/06
Mark Moring
Christianity Today
Ratings Image
2/4

The movie's principles are seriously out of whack, even as it angles toward a Big Life Lesson about learning to live with falling short of greatness.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
Ratings Image
N/A

An excellent effort that packs a solid, emotional punch.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/17/06
Sydney Morning Herald
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6/10

a good film, but it is preaching to the converted

Full Review | comment Comment
09/03/05
Dragan Antulov
Draxblog Movie Reviews
Ratings Image
4/5

Friday Night Lights is a film about football, but it shares more in common with films from the horror genre than with its predecessors.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/25/05
Uri Lessing
www.kcactive.com
Ratings Image
3/5

A Friday night movie if ever there was one.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/21/05
Harry Guerin
RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)
Ratings Image
A

Both a great sports film and a terrific commentary on human nature.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/07/05
Forrest Hartman
Reno Gazette-Journal
Ratings Image
4/5

This is the rousing football movie Any Given Sunday failed to be.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/18/05
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
4/4

My favorite film of 2004.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/17/05
Collin Souter
eFilmCritic.com
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