Too many fans seem to be blown away

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

4/4/18. If you like football movies, then you will probably like this one. It's based on a true story about a Texas high school football team during the year BEFORE they went on to win the state championship. It follows 5 senior players as they try to play their best to win for the coach. However, my favorite football movie is Varsity Blues, which came out 5 years before this movie. While VB was fiction, it pretty much depicted the same kind of issues that were depicted here. And, because it was fiction you do get the chance to cheer for the underdogs who had the worst coach ever (Voight) on the silver screen. Watch VB and I am sure you will agree that VB is much more inspirational and spot on in depicting the southern football culture in which men view football as their masculinity at play.

There are many reasons why the movie will forever be better than the TV series, and here's one of them, more emotional than the TV series, while the FNL show has a few good episodes that I actually enjoyed, ultimately, the FNL movie will always be better than the TV show due to its emotion and theatrical writing. I personally think that Mike Winchell was the real star of the movie. A film better than its spin- off show. The citizens of Odessa-Permian would be proud of Peter Berg for his movie, and I gotta say, since I recently saw the movie, I still stand by my opinion, saying that the FNL Movie is better than the FNL series. Nuff' said.

As an ex-player and deep fan of the book, I can truly say that Friday Night Lights captured the emotions of the players and the fans from the "small" town of Odessa. It evokes sentiment during every second and, just like in the book, makes the viewer an instant die-hard fan, a member of Odessa's community of Permian supporters. The actors chosen for their respective roles played their parts brilliantly. Hats off especially to Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black, Derek Luke, and Garrett Hedlund for their performances. Everyone was totally bonded with their character and did not let go. While the makers did a terrific job in selecting the cast and writing each scene, there were some major issues that interfered with me delving completely into Permian High School, fall 1988. I do not want to sound like a movie sin counter, but I could not look over a lot of the following things.To start off, there was no reason whatsoever for the changes made to the players. Absolutely none. It transformed the story way too much. Brian Chavez was put on defense and had his number changed to 4, an insult to his legacy, in my mind; Ivory Christian was shown to be weak at the beginning and was moved to defensive end as number 90; Boobie Miles had his number changed to 45. They also altered some scores and games that took place. And the list goes on and on. There is no purpose in me dragging on about all the revisions because they can quite simply be Googled. Moving on, the in-your-face anachronism of 21st century cars was quite careless. People were dressed like it was early November for the September 29th game. The zipping about and shaking of the camera, while confusing but suitable for game scenes, was inappropriate for scenes in which a steady shot would easily permit the viewer to grasp what was going on. And last for the list of criticisms, the Rebels game deserved more on-screen time and should have shown the defense playing as well. It made it seem like the Panthers were being absolutely demolished when in fact it was a close game thanks to the defense. I know a large portion of this was dedicated to complaints. But, the flaws stuck out like a sore thumb against the perfection that was the rest of the film. The fact that they only made me dock 2 points says a lot about the quality of the movie. It will pull you in and make you understand and feel what it really is like to be a part of a high school football team in a merciless town. Watched and written 04/13/2014.

Based on Bissinger's book, Odessa is a small dusty town in Texas. There is only one thing that is important to the people of this town. It's their high school football team winning State. Coach Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) is new to the team. The pressure is unbearable. In the last moments of the first game, their star running back Boobie Miles (Derek Luke) gets severely injured. The team struggles without him.This is a movie where there is a real sense of place. The characters are realistic. They are aggressively realistic. There are no easy saints. The kids all struggle. Tim McGraw plays a drunken father. Amber Heard has a small debut part as a sexualized teen. Lucas Black is wonderful as the stoic quarterback trying to take care of his mother. It is modern day poetry.