Overall Rating
 Awesome: 31.73%
Worth A Look: 50.96%
Average: 13.46%
Pretty Bad: 2.88%
Total Crap: 0.96%
9 reviews, 50 user ratings
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| Friday Night Lights |
by Luke Pyzik
"Now I understand why James Vander Beek 'don't want....their life.'"
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Actor turned director Peter Burg has been behind the camera for two films – the queasy “Very Bad Things” and the entertaining action romp “The Rundown.” Based on that resume, one might expect his high school football extravaganza “Friday Night Lights” to look a lot like a sequel to “Varsity Blues.” I’m happy to report it is not. Some may have wondered why Berg took a small, throwaway role in Michael Mann’s “Collateral,” and now the answer seems clear. He wanted to watch Mann work. “Friday Night Lights” looks and feels a lot like a Mann film, complete with gritty, verité camerawork, lush establishing shots, and highly emotional dialogue scenes frequently played out in dramatic, super-tight close ups. Berg employs the style to tell this true-life football story with relative objectivity and uncompromising realism, resulting in a film that will almost certainly end up being listed among the best sports movies ever made.The film is based on the H.G. Bissinger book famously hailed by Sports Illustrated as one of the greatest sports stories ever told. Some may walk out of “Friday Night Lights” doubtful, thinking similar stories must certainly happen all across the country on any given year, but that is exactly the point. What makes the movie (and the book, I’m assuming) so special is not the specifics of what happens on the field, but the way in which it outlines the fragile relationship sports has to its community, the emotional and tangible effects of winning and losing, and the very personal stories of young athletes with too much weight on their shoulders. Thankfully, “Friday Night Lights” is not about whether or not a rag-tag group of loveable losers will win the big game. The movie is not about underdogs or overachievers. Instead, it is about what is truly at stake when playing a game everyone is watching.
The movie focuses on a few key figures of the Odessa-Permian high school football team, including coach Gary Gains (Billy Bob Thornton), quarterback Mike Winchell (Lucas Black), star running back Booby Miles (Derek Luke), and offensive utility man with a propensity for fumbling, Don Billingsley (Garrett Hedlund). In some ways these characters are drawn in broad strokes – reluctant hero, egotistical superstar, son of an overbearing, alcoholic father – but the performances are so authentic their impact is surprisingly effective. Thornton’s Coach Gains is particularly interesting; he isn’t an abusive tyrant (Jon Voight in “Varsity Blues”), nor is he a Christ-like figure with heart of gold (Denzel Washington in “Remember the Titans”). Instead, Gains is a relatively even-tempered man good enough at his job that he knows when to yell and when to rein it in.
Similarly, it would be easy for Derek Luke to play loudmouth superstar Booby Miles as a villain, but the writing, direction and performance are such that his misfortunes are not satisfying pieces of poetic justice, but small human tragedies no young man deserves, regardless of arrogance. Tim McGraw is a revelation as the elder Billingsley, a former high school football star who is too hard on his son partly because of jealousy, partly because of whiskey. McGraw’s turn mirrors that of Dwight Yokam, who so effectively played the domestic menace in Thornton’s directorial debut, “Sling Blade.” And speaking of “Sling Blade,” Lucas Black, who played Thornton’s young friend in that film, also turns up here as troubled quarterback Mike Winchell. Black’s performance is understated and sad, as Winchell has to adjust to taking a bigger role on the team while simultaneously worrying about wooing college scouts and taking care of his sick mother.
Berg and co-screenwriter David Aaron Cohen do well not to elevate any of these characters into the stratosphere of movie superhero. They are all grounded by their humanity, making their journey that much more compelling. Berg and Cohen realize this story is not about these specific characters and this specific team, but that it is the perfect allegory for the countless teams existing in small town America just like them - teams full of kids who need football almost as much as the town itself does.
“Friday Night Lights” is neither a ringing endorsement of high school football hysteria nor is it a blatant indictment. The movie feels like a piece of sports journalism, not just because of the way it is shot, but also because it cuts all the fat off the story’s bone, leaving no room for “win one for the gipper” subplots or needless tragedies to motivate the team. It is structured very matter-of-factly with a surprisingly loose narrative. Scenes are piled on top of each other like quotes in a newspaper story, time passes very flippantly, and there is little regard for eloquent transition. This all works to the film’s advantage by allowing the movie to simply tell its story without taking sides or making blanket statements.The final scenes of the movie are quietly sad and beautiful, showing Coach Gains replacing the seniors’ names on his office wall with the names of incoming freshman. We get the feeling this is part of the routine for a guy who makes his living as a high school football coach in a small town. After all, when the big game is over and the lights are turned off, Odessa is still a town living in poverty that needs something to cheer for. If he can’t provide it, who will?
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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=10978&reviewer=381
originally posted: 10/12/04 06:45:15
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USA
08-Oct-2004 (PG-13)
DVD: 18-Jan-2005
UK
N/A
Australia
10-Mar-2005
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