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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 Oscar®-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 Oscar®-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 Award® 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 rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

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

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
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
10/19/04
Boston Phoenix
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
10/19/04
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

A crowded film in which the main characters emerge as people who have skewed and unsympathetic priorities.

Full Review Source: Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah) | comment Comment
11/01/04
Audrey Rock-Richardson
Audrey Rock-Richardson
Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah)

Lights only diverts narrative tedium when the gladiators take the field; effectively drowning out the nonsense that eventually takes place off the field.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
10/08/04
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

Substitutes slick, cynical point-scoring for insight.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
10/19/04
Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor
Salon.com

Friday Night Lights is like a third-down play that needs to pick up four yards but gets only two.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
10/07/04
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

...so ineptly and annoyingly filmed that it should be used in filmmaking classes... to demonstrate how not to make a movie.

Full Review Source: Fantastica Daily | comment Comment
10/08/04
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

The film feels like an anthology of cliches from a hundred football movies.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
10/07/04
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

These kids are not fighting the power, much as they or you might want to believe it.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
10/08/04
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

[T]he belief that high school athletics is something worth ruining lives over is more likely to strike one as pathetic than praiseworthy.

Full Review Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette | comment Comment
10/08/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

What curdles the film beyond rescue by good acting and rousing action is the relentless emphasis on how warlike and painful football can be.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
10/08/04
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

We don’t need a movie reinforcing that high school is the best time in your life because it’s not. If it was for you, get out there and do something more.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
10/08/04
Fred Topel
Fred Topel
About.com

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 Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
10/30/06
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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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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December 23, 2007: Peter Berg Confirmed to Direct New Dune Film
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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
Fans of TV's "Friday Night Lights" may be familiar with actor Scott Porter. Movie fans will see him in next year's "Speed Racer" adaptation. More...

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