Testosterone Is Given Full Rein in Texas

Rating: Null/10 (2 November 2004)

"Friday Night Lights" is somewhere between "Any Given Sunday" and Leni Riefenstahl's lyrical documentaries of Fascist gatherings.
While this view of high school football is not as over the top as Oliver Stone's treatment of the excesses of the professionals, the criticisms that glide by in sight and sound are drowned out by the competitive story of the sport and overwhelmed by the obsession that Texans have with their Glory Days that the movie not only captures visually, through talk radio and booster confrontations with the coach, but ends up being as seduced by as these fans.
I was personally horrified and disgusted at the money spent on huge stadia, teams and coaches - with none to spare on medical attention for the players-- but I didn't feel that came across to the guys filling the movie theater with their small sons (but then my sons were presidents of their debate teams). We don't even get to see how the academic side is doubtless being starved, which is only hinted at in the post script on how these players got on with their lives and in the fathers and fans that look to them to recall the peak of their youth, before alcoholism, stunted marriages, boring jobs, etc.
While evidently quite a few liberties were taken with the characters in the book for dramatic effect (particularly I would think the racial aspects, not having read the book yet), the personal stories of the players and their families are very involving. The young actors are very effective. It's nice to see Lucas Black all grown up from his child actor days in "American Gothic," Southern accent intact. Newcomer Garrett Hedlund is particularly good in tandem with a very scary Tim McGraw, who is so strong that his character's post-game contrition doesn't balance out his abuse.
The females are pretty much only around for the pre-season and just disappear until they are cheering at the final game, which didn't seem completely realistic, particularly about high school.
While I know zilch about football and could not follow anything that happened at the games other than the score board, Peter Berg's in-your-face directing style grips you from the opening. The football games are shot "Saving Private Ryan"-style, with excruciating grunts heard like bulls fighting for leadership of the herd (the sound editing should get an Oscar nomination), making the case that this is about testosterone given free rein.
The soundtrack songs are a good selection of hip hop as background for the kids and classic rock for the dads, though there's less country music than one would expect to recreate the Texas soundscape.