Hope Comes Alive on Friday Nights

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2008)

Well, I'm not from Texas, or play football, or really particularly love football. Hell, I barely like it. When i went to see this movie, I didn't even know it was a movie about football. But, honestly, this allows me to be the most unbiased type of critic. I went in with a totally open mind.
Friday Night Lights was to me was lifting the magnifying glass, not only a small and backward town, that put winning above winners. Aggrandizing the image over the substance, but about ourselves. It took me under football's skin, to the blood, sweat, and tears, in a real way. I felt the pressure, I felt the hits, the uncertainty, the fragile youth, that comes and goes so fast. And I was moved.
I think at one point, we become anesthetized by Hollywood. And we start to keep predisposed outcomes -- but that's not reality. Reality is, the kids who tried, and failed, and yet, didn't fail at all. Because they learned a deeper truth. We see that when the QB smiles at the end, something he never does.
Because they grow, we are inspired. Enlightenment is contagious. I cried, I laughed - one scene the two other head coaches, who tend to stalk BBT around town, hounding him about winning State - threatens not so subtly, the coach before driving away. The daughter then says, "Are we going to move again?" Mom says, "No, baby." And immediately after, in a matter-of-fact manner Billy Bob says, "It's possible..." I laughed out loud at that. I never expected to see such a myriad of emotional layers opened up. The sociology, mentality, reality, of this film was beautifully depicted with gracious character development, that was all too realistic. Remember the comment on the Odessa radio station after the game when the guy suggested that they lost because they are in school learning too much. The fact of the matter is very few athletes go on to play in college and graduate and a fraction of them go on to play professionally, and a fraction of them make a good living out of it. Odessa put football on a higher pedestal than education and the town and all its residents suffer. Fact is perfect is different things to different people, and this is a perfect story.
I believe every scene was necessary in developing the main characters and the story being told.