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Movies / On DVD / Friday Night Lights
Friday Night Lights

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Friday Night Lights (2004)

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Reviews Counted:162

Fresh:132

Rotten:30

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.

Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for thematic issues, sexual content, language, some teen drinking and rough sports action

Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins

Genre: Dramas

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... 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]

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

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Tim McGraw, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund, Lee Thompson Young, Lee Jackson

Director: Peter Berg

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

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Reviews for Friday Night Lights

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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The affecting, gruelling result is less a document of recreational sport than one of obligation and ordeal.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Ben Walters
Ben Walters
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/01/06
Ian Nathan
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
05/14/05
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

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 Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
04/18/05
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

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

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
07/31/08
Richard Luck
Richard Luck
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: BBC | comment Comment
05/10/05
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Score!

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
10/08/04
E! Online

An excellent effort that packs a solid, emotional punch.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
01/17/06
Sydney Morning Herald

Peter Berg directs this Texas high school football extravaganza in a tough, gritty style that gives it an unusually fine and vivid sense of place.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
10/07/04
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

You will watch as though you've been rooting for the Panthers your entire life. The movie is that good.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
10/07/04
Allison Benedikt
Allison Benedikt
Chicago Tribune

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 Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
03/26/07
Andrea Gronvall
Andrea Gronvall
Chicago Reader

We see just how serious Texans -- fans and players alike -- take their football.

Full Review Source: Town Talk (Alexandria, LA) | comment Comment
10/15/04
Andrew Griffin
Andrew Griffin
Town Talk (Alexandria, LA)

Nuance typifies both Mr. Thornton's highly calibrated performance and the film's absence of unnecessary underlining.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
11/11/04
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

Director Berg uses a smart blend of constantly moving camera and gritty film stock to give the film a documentary feel that's both engaging and perfectly suited to this story.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
10/08/04
Angel Cohn
Angel Cohn
TV Guide's Movie Guide

An emotionally draining viewing experience that only briefly threatens to be undermined by the requisite climactic locker-room pep talk that teeters ever so slightly toward the saccharine. Still, there's a lot of truth here.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
10/12/04
Annlee Ellingson
Annlee Ellingson
Boxoffice Magazine

The story gestures at a cross-sectional view of America on a Nashville scale.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
10/12/04
Benjamin Strong
Benjamin Strong
Village Voice

Friday Night Lights doesn't capture the essence of H.G. Bissinger's bestselling book, but it does embody the spirit of Texas high school football.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
10/07/04
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

Friday Night Lights can be seen as Hoosiers in shoulder pads, especially in the emotional connection between the townspeople and the team.

Full Review Source: Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN) | comment Comment
10/23/04
Bob Bloom
Bob Bloom
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

Might very well be doomed to comparison solely with other sports movies. But at least within that realm it looks pretty darn good.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
01/16/05
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

A very good movie.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
10/08/04
Bruce Kirkland
Bruce Kirkland
Jam! Movies
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Friday Night Lights

August 08, 2008: Play Ball With RT's Top Sports Movies!
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A few weeks ago, we discussed a CHUD report about Frank Herbert's Dune possibly heading back to the big screen. Now, according to Ain't It Cool News, some of the details... More...

June 05, 2007: Scott Porter Signs On for a "Speed Racer" Role
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