Friday Night Lights

2004

2/4 Stars

Peter Berg's adaptation of Buzz Bissinger's popular book chronicling the Odessa Panthers' 1988 season leaves much to be desired. If you are looking for nuance, character development and good dialogue, look elsewhere. Instead, brace yourself for an endless stream of football cliches.

Lines that may or may not be from the movie: "COME ON TEAM, YOU HAVE TO DIG DEEP!"
"YOU HAVE TO SHOW HEART IF YOU WANT TO WIN!"
"WE WORKED ALL SEASON FOR THIS, NOW GO AND GET IT!"
"GO OUT AND WIN IT FOR BOOBIE!"

You get the idea. Boobie is an actual character from the film, I didn't make that up. The acting is not bad, but there is not much to work with in the way of storyline or character growth. Connie Britton, who has since shown herself to be a very capable actress on the spinoff television show, is given less than a page of dialogue as the coach's wife. The coach, Thornton, is reduced to yelling lines like those above throughout the movie.

The cinematography is also not bad. In fact it is pretty well shot and the action is intense. One criticism would be the fact that much of the on-field action looks the same. Brutal hits look less brutal after you have seen them 15 times in a row.

It is a bad sign that I was left wondering what made this team special when the movie ended. For a more entertaining and better done story about high school football (and the Panthers), watch the first season of the television show.