Movie Review: Friday Night Lights (dir. Peter Berg, 2004)

This is an enjoyable and well-made movie about the 1988 season of the Odessa (Tx.)-Permian High School Panthers football team, based on real events. (How much if "real," I don't know. I remember reading that people in Odessa didn't like the way the movie (or the book on which its based) portrayed them, and I can see that.) The team's rollercoaster ride of a season, from high pre-season expectations (and pressure), to struggles once the team's star player is hurt, to a little good luck, and so on, all the way to the final seconds of the state championship game against the dominating Dallas Carter Cowboys, is told through the perspectives of a few major characters, but especially the coach (Billy Bob Thornton), the quarterback, and the star tail back. The end is not a surprise, but it will keep you interested all the way.

First, let me say that Billy Bob Thornton is an underrated actor. Think of his range--from Slingblade to Bad Santa, from Primary Colors where he plays the James Carville character to this movie, where he plays a Texas football coach. Has he ever had a role in which he was not believable in that role? How often, when watching him act, do you say--that's Billy Bob Thornton, and not the character he's playing?

Second, let me say that it's been awhile since I've seen a movie that commented on so many elements of life in these United States. A commentary on that class of people for whom senior year in high school is the best year of their lives. A commentary on class and on differing expectations of high school friends--Chavez "has the grades" and thus is going to get out of Odessa, but Mike needs a football scholarship to escape, even to a program like Kansas Wesleyan. Then there's the heartbreaking story of "Boobie" Miles, the cocky superstar brought low by a cheap hit in a meaningless play in a blow-out game, his life prospects radically reconfigured in a split second. One minute, he's a blue-chip recruit. The next he's just a 17-year-old with a third-grade reading level.

Plus, a great commentary on the rabid fan's lack of accountability and respect for the people with the tough job--like coaching. And the difficult decisions a coach has to make, in the heat of the moment--put Boobie into a game, knowing that his knee is badly injured? Or take the heat on talk radio the next day for not doing so? The coach gets lots of advice, but no one else has to stand in his shoes when things go wrong.

In a surprise turn, Tim McGraw puts in a good performance as the jock dad of one of the players. Maybe Tim knows a little about that, seeing that he's the late Tug McGraw's son. And if you don't know who Tug McGraw is, you may be too young to read this blog, son. I found the reconciliation scene between father and son really touching, at the end of the movie.

I also liked the "period piece" nature of the movie--it's set in 1988. Boobie wears a Public Enemy jacket. I especially liked that.

If you haven't seen this movie, it's worth a rental.