The 2004 drama filled the gaping need for a film about toxic small-town football culture and gave the sport a much more realistic slant.

| Oct 26, 2024

Friday Night Lights still remains one of the most entertaining and engrossing sports movies of the past two decades.

| Dec 8, 2023

The game sequences do stand out, but this refreshingly no-frills affair also finds time to question the value of the win-at-all-costs ethos rife in modern sport.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 24, 2020

With Billy Bob Thornton's garrulous Coach Gary Gaines masterminding every play, you'll get caught up in the action even if you can't tell your 'first-and-down' from your 'time-out.'

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 24, 2019

It is reminiscent of a war movie...the football impact scenes are brutal and the sound editors have the volume on high for each wince-inducing hit, underscoring the disposability of the boys...

| Nov 5, 2018

Every performance in Friday Night Lights rings true.

| Feb 6, 2018

It succeeds best as a sadly iconic portrayal of America's love affair with Texas high school football.

| Original Score: B | Jun 3, 2016

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 24, 2011

So much more than a football movie.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 24, 2010

What Friday Night Lights offers is the perspective that, for the people and young players caught up in this whirlwind, football simultaneously means everything and ultimately nothing.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Oct 30, 2009

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 7, 2008

Had Billy Bob Thornton not been so good in so many films, people would be talking about this as his greatest role.

| Jul 31, 2008

Few films have shown so powerfully the slashing double edge of sports fever.

| Nov 1, 2007

The script spends at least as much time exploring the psychologies of the young players and the problems they face at home as it does rallying the audience behind their efforts on the field.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 14, 2007

A heart-pounding big-screen treatment that captures all the action of a tumultuous season while showing the emotional toll on the players.

| Mar 26, 2007

While the atmosphere is excellent, and the general elements all strong, the film sadly fails to give any real insight or depth in regards to explaining the hows and whys of the near fever over the game and its players.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 30, 2006

You'll leave the theater somewhat emotionally spent -- feeling like you've been tackled by a 220-pound linebacker -- but it's worth the ride. One of the best sports movies ever.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 22, 2006

The affecting, gruelling result is less a document of recreational sport than one of obligation and ordeal.

| Jun 24, 2006

The movie's principles are seriously out of whack, even as it angles toward a Big Life Lesson about learning to live with falling short of greatness.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 26, 2006

The best sports movie for years, as it's not about sport at all. Forget fears of jingoistic grandstanding, this is an un-American all-American tale that deserves attention.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 1, 2006