Friday with Friday Night Lights

Billy Bob Thornton has always been a good actor. His movie choices, however, are hit or miss: some are really great (see Sling Blade and Bandits) and some, well, not so much (see Armageddon or The Alamo). There’s no consistency here about the types of movies he chooses—some seem like small arty films, and others are huge, big-budget blow-ups.

Friday Night Lights is one of his good ones, but not because of Billy Bob Thornton. He’s good, of course, but this movie is really about the players and only incidentally about the coach, played by Thornton. What makes this film good is a) the truth behind small-town high school football, b) the way the individual characters are dramatized, and c) the ending.

Throughout the movie, we are shown shots of the high school stadium, as well as the small Texas town where the movie takes place—Odessa, in West Texas. During the games, the entire town basically shuts down, and the businesses write “Gone to the Game!” on their windows. In fact, the town seems to internalize the school’s victories, putting tremendous pressure on the players and coaches. After one loss, the coach finds 20 for sale signs in his yard—that’s how committed these people are to this team. It’s a lot like my high school in South Carolina. In these small towns, there’s nothing to do, so the people take their local sports very seriously.

I appreciated these details, because they made the characters so real, which brings us to the next reason the movie was good: the individual characters were remarkably real. Everything here had been done before, sure, but these characters were not caricatures or one-dimensional kids; they were real people with real problems. My wife actually left the movie half-way through because one kid was abused by his father. It was gut-wrenching without being trite or over-emotional.

Which is what I loved about the ending. I won’t give it away, but it is powerful. This is not your typical movie, let’s just say that. Remember when I mentioned that all films were about overcoming adversity? Well, this one does isn’t standard. I really did almost cry here.

As a side note, there is only one piece of music throughout the entire movie, unless the students were at a party or something. The entire night I kept telling my wife, “I know this song!” I told her it sounded like a band we had seen open for Fugazi about five years earlier called Explosions in the Sky. She didn’t even really remember seeing the band, but I waited for the credits at the end, and ... sure enough, was them! I was vindicated!

Overall, this is a great movie, even for those of us, like me, who don’t like football. Grade? I give it an 8, and this could go up to 8.5, but I will stick with 8 for now. It’s not one of the best movies I have ever seen, but it’s good.