Friday Night Lights Review
by Bob Bloom (bob AT bloomink DOT com)October 26th, 2004
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (2004) 3 stars out of 4. Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund, Tim McGraw and Lee Thompson Young. Based on the book by H.G. Bissinger. Screenplay by David Aaron Cohen and
Peter Berg. Directed by Peter Berg. Rated PG-13. Running time: Approx: 110 mins.
Friday Night Lights isn't so much about the game of football as it is about the
religion of the sport.
Odessa, Texas, is one of those small towns with nothing special to offer, so life
revolves around the high school football team.
The student athletes are treated like superstars: free meals, cops and parents
looking the other way at indiscretions.
Based on the book by H.G. Bissinger, the film follows the fortunes of the Odessa
Permian Panthers during the fall of 1988, a season in which the Panthers seek their
fifth state championship in the school's 30-year history.
The Panthers play in Ratliff Stadium, a complex that seats 20,000-plus fans. It's the
biggest high school stadium in the country.
And the town's dreams and expectations for the young Panthers are as big as the
stadium.
Friday Night Lights can be seen as Hoosiers in shoulder pads, especially in the
emotional connection between the townspeople and the team.
The people of Odessa live and die with the team, they center their lives around the
Panthers. On game night, all stores are closed, no work is done. Everyone is at Ratliff
or following the team on the road, rooting on the Panthers.
Director Peter Berg, who co-wrote the screenplay with David Aaron Cohen, makes it
possible to feel repulsed by and pity for the townsfolk simultaneously. At times you
want to shout at them to “get a life.”
The person under the biggest pressure is third-year coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob
Thornton), a dedicated soft-spoken leader off the field, a master manipulator on
game day.
Gaines knows when to drive and bully his players and when to turn it down a notch
or two and simply inspire or coddle.
Playing a coach without falling into clichés is a difficult proposition, but Thornton
pulls it off. He looks patiently bemused when some ardent boosters visit him in his
office before a game to give him advice on how to play his defense. He shows a bemused attitude when coming home after one tough loss he finds a sea of “For Sale” signs in the front yard of his house.
Thornton's Gaines has seen it all before and accepts these indignities as part of the
job.
The movie tracks the Panthers' struggles after losing star player Boobie Miles (a
cocky, boisterous Derek Luke) for the season. The team's offense had been built
around Miles, now Gaines and his players, led by quarterback Mike Winchell (Lucas
Black), must adapt.
Another subplot deals with the volatile relationship between tailback Don Billingsley
(Garrett Hedlund) and his overbearing father, Charlie (singer Tim McGraw), a former
all-star player for the Panthers, who wears his state championship ring like a crown.
The movie presents some hard-hitting football action; a few hits make you wince.
Friday Night Lights is a study of the hopes and aspirations not only of the young men
on the team, but of those who invest their lives in every play at the West Texas
shrine called Ratliff Stadium.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be
reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at [email protected]. Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Journal and Courier Web site: www.jconline.com
Other reviews by Bloom can be found at the Rottentomatoes Web site: www.rottentomatoes.com or at the Internet Movie Database Web site:
www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
More on 'Friday Night Lights'...
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
