Friday Night Lights

Really stupid, with junk that wasn't in the book, which was a true account by an outside journalist. At the first practice, a kid's dad runs out onto the field and yells at his son and then hits him? and the coaches just stand there and do nothing. No decent coach is going to let a parent hijack his first practice, therefore setting the pattern for the whole season - any time a parent wants to step onto the field and take over, the coach is going to just stand there. Crazy parent is not totally unrealistic, but macho, I'm-in-control coach doing nothing is unrealistic. Then same crazy parent in late night home scene, in a rage, duct tapes a football to his struggling son's hands? There is no way that a person could do that unless the kid holds out his hands and complies, with zero struggle. The lightest struggle would make it impossible. It takes two hands to rip off a piece of duct tape and tape it in place, and then how do you hold the football in place while you are doing that? It could be done, but not with a strong athletic teenager putting up a fight. Pure Hollywood junk. Had to turn the movie off at that point.

Watched many years ago and rewatched recently. There’s a reason I forgot I’d seen it. This is just small town America and their bizarre obsession with school age boys playing sport. It makes no sense to anyone who isn’t American. Full of typical US sport redemptive schmaltz and wholly predictable. Load of nonsense. Watched on DVD.

Gripping movie. Great example of Texas high school football. West Texas especially.

Sports drama with a lot of tension. Music score is fantastic. Football scenes leave you on edge of your seat with anticipation. Could watch this movie multiple times.

Another well done Berg movie about life

Late to the game watching this in 2024 but thought it was one of the best series I’ve ever watched. The way the show dealt with teenagers growing up in a small town hit home. Friday night was always football night. Coach hit it out of the park with his skills both in football and in life’s lessons. The entire cast is commended for their acting skills. A must watch series if you have not seen it yet.

When I saw that Friday Night Lights was based on a true story, I expected something monumental to happen during the course of the film. But the story that unfolded was fairly standard. No major plot twists or unusual obstacles occurred, so I kept wondering why this story needed to be told. I was also a little distracted by the cinematography, which was trying to emulate a documentary, and so the camera was constantly panning, tilting, and zooming. And, aside from two or three characters, everyone else felt like a one-dimensional extra. I liked Friday Night Lights, but I guess I just expected more.

A Classic Sports Drama that on the surface doesn't look like anything special and just your run of the mill underdog story weve seen time and time again. What this does is it doesn't focus on throwaway characters and is done in a documentary drama style that showcases a way of life as much as it does a football story that sets it apart. None of the characters are throwaways and showcases the obession, perils, and promises of playing high school ball in the heartland. The music is amazing and super memorable. The editing is good but this is the one part that can be a bit shaky at times. Sometimes it picks up especially in the first half and cuts a bit too fast out of nowhere like it's a Bourne movie for no reason and there really isn't a central character that grounds this which means it is quite jumpy as we go through the key events of the season and how it affects everyone. Which means it can feel like it jumps and stuff just happens a bit but it all does come together in the end. It's crazy how this more about the kids rather than BBT. Besides that everything else is really good. The football scenes are amazing, the drama is really good and heartfelt, and you really do feel like your right with the team all the way. The shaky cam and cinematography style can be a bit dated and obnoxious sometimes but it does work a lot of times especially in the intense drama situations. Anyone who is a fan of the director, any actors in this, or sports dramas will like this a lot.

This is my favorite movie!

Good football flick - saw it on a small screen on the seatback in front of me on a Delta flight. Those tackles sounded especially brutal with headphones on.