High School football isn’t the most compelling sport for most fans. So why make a film about it? Oddly enough, high school football makes for decent cinema.
A few years back, films like “Varsity Blues” and “Any Given Sunday” again popularized the football film, and there have been a few less memorable ones here and there as well (“The Replacements”).
Sports films always tend to take the same general path, which we’ll call the “Mighty Ducks approach.” This consists of a team of rag-tag kids getting together and overcoming the odds by winning the big game. Everyone has seen it before, yet this plot never gets old. “Friday Night Lights” goes in with the same basic approach, adding a few twists along the way.
Based on H.G. Bissinger’s 1990 best-selling novel, the film looks into the 1988 season of the Permian High Panthers, the local football team in the small town of Odessa, TX. Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton, “Bad Santa”) is under constant pressure from the area residents to bring home a state championship — namely to “get ‘er done.”
The Panthers focus their entire offense around the talents of their star running back, Boobie Miles (Derek Luke, “Antwone Fisher”). Ultimately Boobie pushes quarterback Mike Winchell (Lewis Black, “Cold Mountain”) out of the limelight, but Winchell needs to showcase his talents so he can get a college scholarship. Oh yeah, his mom is quite sick to boot. The poor kid just wants to play football.
Wouldn’t you know it, but Boobie gets injured during the first game of the season and the team is forced to restructure their game plan. Unfortunately the team’s two backup running backs seem to be terrible. Second-stringer Don Billingsley (Garrett Hedlund, “Troy”) not only has a fumbling problem, but also an abusive alcoholic father (played by Tim McGraw) who likes to break things and yell for no apparent reason. One particular scene sees the father duct taping a football in Don’s hands because he fumbled earlier that night, but I’m sure we’ve all been there … or maybe that’s just me. The final running back, Chris Comer (Lee Thompson Young, “Jett Jackson”), has never really had any game time and forgets to bring his helmet to games. Needless to say, the odds are not in the Panthers’ favor.
Despite all of the obstacles facing them, the Panthers come together as a team and somehow make it all the way to the state championship game. Winchell faces his fears of succeeding and leaving behind his mother when prompted to do so by Coach Gaines. He begins to progress and toward the end of the film is a true team leader. Comer shows off the talents nobody knew he had (no, not juggling) and Billingsley eventually stops fumbling.
Director Peter Berg (“The Rundown,” “Very Bad Things”) uses a lot of quick cuts to make the games fast-paced and intense. It works well for his intent, but as an unfortunate side effect tends to be a little annoying at times. Sometimes it’s just as easy to use a nice slow panning shot instead of 15 quick cuts.
As with any film, there are some problems. In the case of “Friday Night Lights,” there are a few plot holes that could have easily been remedied. Early in the film Winchell calls what is presumably a brother or sister asking them to come home to see their ailing mother, but nothing ever comes of it.
The film introduces a conflict between Coach Gaines and a few of the area football fans, who give him the alternative of taking state “or else.” Again, Berg seems to just forget about this chain of events as Gaines never interacts with them again. Maybe “or else” just meant that they would give him the silent treatment? Your guess is as good as mine.
Thornton does an excellent job in his role, as does the rest of the cast. The only questionable casting choice would have to be Tim McGraw as Charles Billingsley, but he does a decent job. Then again, it’s hard to tell how much of a stretch playing the angry, drunken redneck is for McGraw. Whatever the case may be, McGraw isn’t bad by any means.
Other than these few small gripes, this is a really solid outing. Some might argue that Berg is insulting his core audience by poking fun of ex-players who can’t get past their glory days, but that’s not his intent. He wants to show that for many people high school really does hold the best times of their lives. The camaraderie associated with being a member of such a tight-knit team is captured perfectly. Berg deserves all of the accolades he receives from “Friday Night Lights,” as it’s some of his best work to date.
Grade: A/B
