Not so good

Rating: Null/10 (27 February 2005)

The problem with Friday Night Lights is that the filmmakers let technique get in the way of story telling. Peter Berg employed the same camera style he used on his failed show Wonderland. Multiple hand held cameras constantly shaking around with short snap zooms. It becomes annoying and takes me out of the moment I want to pay attention to. I didn't care about any of these people, because I wasn't sure who I was looking at or supposed to pay attention to. I didn't know Billy Bob had a daughter until an hour and 17 minutes into the movie. Is that important? Probably not, but she was there to deliver a line about the family needing to move again. I didn't care, because I didn't know anything about his family. Either stick with the main characters and main story or figure a way to fit it all in with out annoying technique. Miracle is a good example of a successful sports movie making. It was not gimmicky and we followed a lot more people. It didn't jump up and down and say "Look how clever I am!" I'm also displeased that the story was changed from the semi-finals to the finals. Can the audience only enjoy the movie if the team is playing the big game? Reality and truth can be a lot more interesting than pandering if you have skilled writing and directing. I like Peter Berg as an actor, but he still doesn't impress me as a film maker.