Football is a big deal in Texas. It often quits
becoming a game and transforms into a lifestyle.
A lifestyle that will either be filled with
rewards, or send one down a path of self
destruction. "Friday Night Lights" is the best
sports film ever made because it captures the
obsession surrounding the sport. It captures the
ego that swell, the towns that scorn, and the
coaches who are ostracized when the team loses.
I live in Texas. I love Texas. I like football.
This movie was right up my alley. I have,
though, never attended a high school football
game (and don't intend too) for two reasons: A
complete and total lack of school spirit, and
the fear that I will become like the pep squad
members or school fanatics dressing up in Blue
and Gold and yelling poorly rhyming chants in
the middle of Geometry on game day. I've seen
how football can change someone.
Oh, yes...the movie. "Friday Night Lights" is
based on a true story that occurred in the town
of Odessa in West Texas. It follows the head
Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) and his
team as they go for the State Championship. A
pretty standard story for a sports film...
...but what sets it apart is the lack of
sentimentality. There's no swelling orchestras,
or unrealistic speeches (there are speeches, but
plausible ones) that suddenly turn the players
into supermen after a disastrous first half.
It's not about the little people facing the
odds. It's about a town that stays on the map
because of football and will do anything or
sacrifice anything to keep their team on top. It
shows how the school funds are taken away to pay
for a massive stadium, how the football coach
makes more money than the principal, how
football players consider themselves Gods among
men...I'm not sure how many people outside of
Texas have experienced this mania in person, but
as one who actually lives there, let me say
this: this film is real. It's not a fancy
illusion. The sad truth is that while football
is a glorious game and it can change lives for
the better, it can also contort one's life into
a true mess. Take the father of a rather
mediocre player. He is played by Tim McGraw
(yes, the Country music singer). He is a former
champion turned drunk who now only lives to see
his son be great, and when he isn't, he becomes
abusive and dangerous. Exaggeration? No.
This is a good moment ot commend director Peter
Berg on his excellent direction. The editing and
cinematography are gritty and documentary like.
Football is shown to be a battle, not a game.
Props also to the cast. Thornton once again
delivers a masterful performance (hell, a
PERFECT performance), and McGraw manages to
completely drop his sex-symbol singer image in
his role. I accepted him 100% as this cold and
angry man.
By the time "Friday Night Lights" is rolling the
credits, one will notice the feelings that I
described above. There is no sappy "Remember the
Titans" crap, nor is there the predictability of
"Miracle." This is a milestone in the sports
film, and proof that we can still be mesmerized
by such a film
©
Written by Jacob Hall
TC Candler's Comment
A
homo-erotic mess of a film in which the team we
are supposed to be rooting for consists of
whiny, pathetic assholes with not one shred of
intelligence or depth. I hated every
character in this film... the exact opposite of
the film's intentions! Dismal.
Richard
Propes' Comment
"Friday Night Lights" is the best sports film
that I haven't been an extra in. Of course, my
opinion that the best sports films are made in
Indiana is fairly well known with the most
notable ones being "Hoosiers" and "Eight Men
Out" along with "A League of Their Own" and
"Rudy." Humbly, I move all these over with the
exception of "Hoosiers" to allow room for this
wonderful film starring Billy Bob Thornton as
the coach of the Permian Panthers, the pride of
Odessa, Texas.
Capturing the spirit of Texas high school
football was no easy task, but director Peter
Berg has made a powerful film here including all
the peaks and valleys from the many victories to
the racial politics, intimidation and the deep
instillation of the fear of losing that often
accompanies high school sports.
