needed more about the town

Rating: Null/10 (23 November 2004)

The total obsession of the town seemed overblown to me. However, I read quite a few comments of people from Texas who say this movie was very realistic. So, really, I needed more about the economic problems of the town and the so-called "pathetic lives" of the adults for me to see why they might be so obsessed with high school football. Of course I can see how football could be such an escape, but what are they escaping from? With the exception of the drunken abusive dad, the movie almost never shows me.
I guess I was expecting a movie that was 50% about football and 50% about the town, the people, their lives. I really did think this movie was 90% football. Bummer, it would have been better with a better mix.
It did do an excellent job giving the atmosphere of the town, the after games parties, just the whole feel. Very nicely done. Also did a good job with the feel of the games, the coaches on the sideline. This movie did have its merits, and it was worth seeing.
The high school I went to had 3,000 students, in the Chicago area. I never went to a football game the entire time I was there, and I wasn't the only one. I suppose in Odessa I would have been a total freak. But, basically, I just played soccer.