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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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21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

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

Full Review Source: Reno Gazette-Journal | comment Comment
02/07/05
Forrest Hartman
Forrest Hartman
Reno Gazette-Journal

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

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
01/18/05
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com

My favorite film of 2004.

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

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

The film, just like the sports battles, allows spectators to get caught up in the excitement and become intoxicated on the glare of the blinding stadium lights.

Full Review Source: Zap2it.com | comment Comment
12/19/04
Kelly Glover
Kelly Glover
Zap2it.com

As someone who normally finds football about as exciting as golf, I was often on the edge of my seat, particularly during the climactic championship game.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
11/18/04
Ethan Alter
Ethan Alter
Film Journal International

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

the film really lives out the metaphor realistically, just like Life

Full Review Source: ToxicUniverse.com | comment Comment
11/08/04
John A. Nesbit
John A. Nesbit
ToxicUniverse.com

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)

might have been a truly great deconstruction of the secular religion of football had it not come dangerously close to buying into the very myth it is trying to dismantle

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
10/30/04
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

What elevates this ode to brotherhood from other sports dramas is that its subplots, the bulk of its thematic substance, aren’t seeped in dating and teammate-envy turmoil.

Full Review Source: Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) | comment Comment
10/28/04
Mark Palermo
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

When did director Peter Berg become Mr. Reliable?

Full Review Source: Film Snobs | comment Comment
10/28/04
Jimmy O
Jimmy O
Film Snobs

Expertly infuses humanity into the unforgiving, obsessive world of high school football.

Full Review Source: Oregon Herald | comment Comment
10/27/04
Mark Sells
Mark Sells
Oregon Herald

Billy Bob Thornton delivers one of the best acting jobs of his career.

Full Review Source: Talking Pictures (U.S.) | comment Comment
10/24/04
Tony Toscano
Tony Toscano
Talking Pictures (U.S.)

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)

Friday Night Lights is a movie that gets the gridiron action exactly right, but does not dig deeply enough into the lives of the players off the field.

Full Review Source: Atlantic City Weekly | comment Comment
10/20/04
Lori Hoffman
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly
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

But all in all, this is a movie for football fans... if you don’t like the sport, then you might as well forget it and try something more to your tastes.

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
10/19/04
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

A solid football movie.

Full Review Source: JoBlo's Movie Emporium | comment Comment
10/19/04
JoBlo
JoBlo
JoBlo's Movie Emporium
 
 
21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
all

Latest News for Friday Night Lights

August 08, 2008: Play Ball With RT's Top Sports Movies!
It's a busy time in the sports universe: the Olympics are underway, baseball's pennant races are heating up, and NFL players are in the midst of training camp. (Oh, and Shaq and... More...

December 23, 2007: Peter Berg Confirmed to Direct New Dune Film
Score another one for the rumor mill: Peter Berg has been confirmed as the director of a new Dune. More...

October 16, 2007: And the Possible Dune Remake's Director Might Be...
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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