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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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81 - 100 (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
 
 

A compelling and stirring film.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
10/08/04
Timothy Knight
Timothy Knight
Reel.com

The arcs of the characters have the persuasive authenticity of real life, as do the dramatic mechanics of the big-game finale.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Daily News | comment Comment
10/08/04
Gary Thompson
Gary Thompson
Philadelphia Daily News

An exciting and involving sports drama that more than does justice to the cliches it presents as 'a true story.'

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
10/08/04
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

More watchable than it ought to be.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
10/08/04
Shawn Levy
Shawn Levy
Oregonian

Electric, witty, sad and wise.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
10/08/04
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday

The film doesn't completely gloss over the rough stuff and remains, for the most part, true to the text.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
10/08/04
Lisa Rose
Lisa Rose
Newark Star-Ledger

The film delivers what sports fans really want.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
10/08/04
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post

Filled with plenty of bone-crushing, helmet-crashing action.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
10/08/04
Robert Dominguez
Robert Dominguez
New York Daily News

A stand-up example of how effective underdog sports movies are, no matter how many times you've seen this kind of thing before.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
10/08/04
Rene Rodriguez
Rene Rodriguez
Miami Herald

Friday Night Lights scores.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
10/08/04
David Kronke
David Kronke
Los Angeles Daily News

A movie that feels genuinely lived in.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
10/08/04
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star

A very good movie.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
10/08/04
Bruce Kirkland
Bruce Kirkland
Jam! Movies

Friday Night Lights captures this aspect of team spirit with honesty and passion.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
10/08/04
Louis B. Hobson
Louis B. Hobson
Jam! Movies

Friday Night Lights is the best [football movie] I've seen, and I'm hard-pressed to think of another film about sports -- any sport -- that surpasses it.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
10/08/04
Eric Harrison
Eric Harrison
Houston Chronicle

Friday Night Lights bursts through the line of those beefy sports cliches, only to switch uniforms and join them.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
10/08/04
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail

Score!

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

Contains just the right mix of grunting, cheerleading and backbiting, of failure and success, of broken dreams and great expectations.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
10/08/04
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News

It honors the book of the same name.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
10/08/04
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press

Given [the editing and jittery camera work], it's hard to know exactly how to feel about the film. Fortunately, the story is just compelling enough, its performances convincing enough, to help.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
10/08/04
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Does a terrific job of exposing the pressure, intensity and, yes, near-insanity of high-school football in the West Texas town of Odessa.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
10/08/04
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
 
 
81 - 100 (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!
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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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