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Billy Bob Thornton, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund ... see more see more... , Tim McGraw , Connie Britton , Lee Thompson Young , Lee Jackson , Grover Coulson , Angie Bolling , Connie Cooper , Rutherford Cravens , Ken Farmer , John Patrick Hayden , Kyle-Scott Jackson , Tommy G. Kendrick , Brad Leland , Kevin Page , Marco Perella , Turk Pipkin , Harry Everett Smith , Julius Tennon , Katherine Willis , Charles Sanders , Brady Coleman , Richard Dillard , Dennis Hill , Mark Nutter , Evan Bernard , Christian Kane , John Clark , Lillian Langford , Richard Nance , Gavin Grazer , Christopher Dahlberg , Paul Wright III , Josh Berry , J.D. Hawkins , Eloise Dejoria , Kasey Stevens , Ryanne Duzich , Amber Heard , Morgan Farris , Laine Kelly , Dr. Carey Windler , Buddy Hale , Barry Sykes , Clay Kennedy , Lewis B. Johnson , B.T. Stone , Wade Johnston , Rick Herod , Timothy Walter , Robert Scott Smith , Kenneth Plunk , Branson Washburn , David Johnson , C. Anthony "Charles" Jackson , Kippy Brown , Cleveland "Chick" Harris , Billy Melvin Thomas , Kammerin Hunt , Roy Williams , Gary Mack Griffin , Randy Brinlee , Dan Rankin , Tim Crowley , Harvey L. Jeffries , Tiki Davis , Ty Law , Peter Harrell Jr. , Bob Richardson , J. Mark Donaldson , Aisha Schliessler , Wayne Hanawalt , Brian Thornton , Sam Austin , Robert Flores , Terry Parks , Talon Smith , Taylor Sawyers , Bradley Lisman , Aaron Babino , Dean Baldwin , Ben Bronson , Sunny Byrd , Bobby Doherty , Chris Fisher , Cedric Foster , Corey Hargers , Tavis Harvey , Deshaun Hill , Ryan Jacobs , Nick Jester , Mike Jones , Russell Tyrone Jones , Mark Llewellyn , Jon Luke , O.J. McClintock , Robert Nguyen , Dewayne Patmon , Everick Rawls , Brett Robin , Ray Ross , Chad L. Stevens , Travis Thompson , Matt Trissel , Brandon Tully , Darrick Wallace , Robert "Wingnut" Weaver , Jeff Gibbs , Steven Rogers , Chris Palmer , Joseph Norman , Barney Welch , Stephen Bishop

H.G. Bissinger's best-selling true-life account of a few months in the life of a high-school football team comes to the screen in this adaptation written and directed by Peter Berg. Odessa, TX, is an ... read more read more...oil town in the western part of the state that's home to the Permian High School Panthers, the football team with the best winning record in the state. Odessa is a town with more than its share of problems; the decline of the oil business in Texas has set the city's economy into a tailspin, and racial tensions still erupt into violence on occasion. But football is the one thing that brings all the people of Odessa together, and on Friday nights every fall, as many as 20,000 people fill Permian's football stadium to watch Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) and his boys try to lead the team to victory. As Gaines works to build a winning team in a town where victory is prized above all else, however, his players struggle through the emotional trials common to any teenager and ponder the fact that there is little future in their hometown...and that a championship season can be as much a burden as a triumph. Friday Night Lights also stars Lucas Black, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, and country singer-turned-actor Tim McGraw. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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84% liked it

166,725 ratings

Critics

81% liked it

168 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 57 min.

Directed by: Peter Berg

Release Date: October 8, 2004

Keywords: sports

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DVD Release Date: January 18, 2005

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Stats: 9,158 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (9,158)

  • DreamExtractor
    August 24, 2011
    DreamExtractor
    A movie is rare when they make a movie as good as Friday Night Lights, and a movie that is the best performance from Billy Bob Thorton ever. The plot is the best sports plot ive seen since Rudy or Hoosiers. The characters were all great, they all gave a backround of themselves ... read moreby their expression, really good acting. I was surprised to discover the music was tremendous, really well made. The cinematography was really shaky for a football movie. This movie was amazing.
  • blkbomb
    July 22, 2011
    blkbomb
    Mike Winchell: This is for the state championship. I love all of ya'll, baby. I love all of ya'll. 

    "Hope Comes Alive on Friday Night"

    As far as football movies or sports movies in general go, Friday Night Lights sets itself apart from most. I don't know if I've seen another mo... read morevie that captures the emotion of high school athletics as well as Friday Night Lights did. Anyone who's ever played a high school sport knows the emotion that's involved. That last game of the season and for about 95% of the players; the last game of their lives. 

    The State Championship sequence is highly manipulative. I'll be the first to admit that. Everything about it is manipulative. But it's undeniably well-made, emotional, and powerful. For many of the players, it is the biggest moment of their life. They aren't going to have another day where 55,000 people are screaming and their only a touchdown away from a state championship. 

    The characters are all well developed and are all deeply moving in their own way. Billingsley can't hold on to the football, but he fights through that and ends up being one of the teams best players. Winchell is a hard working and tough quarterback who never gives up on himself or his team. Boobie is the most talented player, but also the most cocky. That is until he goes down for the season. He rallies around his team even though he can't play, and it's killing him. Hell even Billingsley's dad is moving. Yeah he's a piece of crap to his son at the start. But he grows to be a good dad at the end in a pretty emotional shot. We can't hear what he says to his son, but we really don't need to.

    If you love sports and know the emotions that are involved; this movie cannot be missed. It's really a spectacular look at one season and how it can affect a town in so many ways.
  • jennifxu
    April 29, 2011
    jennifxu
    I probably would have liked this film a ton better had the TV show not eclipsed it in grandeur many times over. Billy Bob, you are no Kyle Chandler.
  • danperry17
    September 28, 2010
    danperry17
    I had been told this was a great movie, and I can't say that I disagree. Formulaic, but perfectly so in its way. It gets a little emo in the end, but that's not to take away from its great moments. Billy Bob Thornton holds his own with a strong ensemble cast of relative unknowns ... read morein the true story of Permian High's march to the Texas State Championship Game. I think what separates this from many sports movies is that you know just how much rides on the football season, and why each player there has to succeed. Very Last Picture Show, in a way - the desolation of the small Texas town and the desperate search for that ticket out. A very good film.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    April 16, 2010
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "Hope comes alive"

    Based on H.G. Bissinger's book, which profiled the economically depressed town of Odessa, Texas and their heroic high school football team, The Permian High Panthers.

    REVIEW

    ... read more"Friday Night Lights" follows a season of football in a dusty little Texas oil town where varsity football is not just the only game in town but the only way out of town and the only hope for the future for many of the players. The film examines the team's key players and their good guy coach (Thornton) as they wrestle with personal issues and work their way through the season one bone jarring touchdown at a time. Working more with montages than linear plot development, Director Berg brings life and verve to the screen culminating in the mania and frenzy of the statewide championship. An excellent football flick, "Friday Night Lights" is all about football and what it means to the town that lives through it vicariously.
  • jagfire
    January 22, 2008
    jagfire
    He misses the last TD by half a yard.
  • allan913
    October 24, 2007
    allan913
    One of the best sports movies ever made. A powerful, compelling and gripping emotional powerhouse. The characters and the story and incrediably inspirational. Billy Bob Thorton is electrifying.
  • DrZeek
    October 4, 2007
    DrZeek
    Coach Gary Gaines: Gentlemen, the hopes and dreams of an entire town are riding on your shoulders. You may never matter again in your life as much as you do right now.

    I am not a big fan of sports movies, with few exceptions. They are all pretty much the same to me, but this is... read more the best football movie that I have seen.

    It's about these kids in their moment, many know that they wont do much else after high school, so it is important to see them win these games so they can feel like they were somebody at one time.

    Billy Bob also does well in a quiet role, as the coach who just wants to get through the season, and if he can win, that's nice too.

    Coach Gary Gaines: My goodness gracious!

    Based off of the novel of the same name, directed by author Buzz Bisinger's cousin Peter Berg, the movie does a good job at getting across a lot of what made the book work, as well as making it work for a cinematic feature.

    There is also a lot of good camera work showing the football action that is going on. That has to be hard stuff to shoot.

    The soundtrack is also very good. Mixing a neat score with some choice tunes.

    This is a well made sports movie, with good performances, and a good story about making it through the high points of life for this small Texas town.

    State Trooper: You boys gonna go undefeated?
    Brian Chavez: Yes sir.
    State Trooper: You boys gonna win state?
    Brian Chavez: Yes sir.
    State Trooper: Good.
  • YosemiteSamFan
    July 15, 2007
    YosemiteSamFan
    A powerful High School football movie which showed how serious the towns, the kids, the coaches and the parents get. It has a unique cinematographic style throughout which is worth checking out.
  • fb619846742
    July 7, 2007
    fb619846742
    One of the best football movies out there. Thornton seems an unlikely choice for the role of the head coach, but he, as well as the very underrated Derek Luke, are superb.

View All Friday Night Lights Reviews

Critic Reviews

David Ansen
November 1, 2007
David Ansen, Newsweek

Few films have shown so powerfully the slashing double edge of sports fever. Full Review

Andrea Gronvall
March 26, 2007
Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader

A heart-pounding big-screen treatment that captures all the action of a tumultuous season while showing the emotional toll on the players. Full Review

Andrew Sarris
November 11, 2004
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

Nuance typifies both Mr. Thornton's highly calibrated performance and the film's absence of unnecessary underlining. Full Review

Charles Taylor
October 19, 2004
Charles Taylor, Salon.com

Substitutes slick, cynical point-scoring for insight. Full Review

Glenn Lovell
October 12, 2004
Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News

Friday Night Lights is the real deal, a grim, in-your-face expose of one West Texas school's fanatical sports program.

Benjamin Strong
October 12, 2004
Benjamin Strong, Village Voice

The story gestures at a cross-sectional view of America on a Nashville scale. Full Review

Sean Daly
October 8, 2004
Sean Daly, Washington Post

A poignant celebration and a chilly condemnation of the high school gridiron as God's country. Full Review

Geoff Pevere
October 8, 2004
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

There's an interesting movie struggling to get out of Friday Night Lights, but every time it tries it gets rushed and tackled. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
October 8, 2004
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

People who like sports movies will love Friday Night Lights, but so will people who don't like sports movies and would never think of seeing a high school football game. Full Review

Roger Moore
October 8, 2004
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

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

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  • What State does Friday Night Lights take place in?  Answer »
  • What did Chavez miss, after his buddy mentioned it, in th movie Friday Night Lights?  Answer »
  • Who played Coach Gaines in the movie "Friday Night Lights"?  Answer »
  • Lucas Black portrayed the character coach Gary Gaines in the 2004 film Friday Night Lights ?  Answer »
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