Style Over Substance

Rating: 6/10 (29 December 2006)

"Friday Night Lights" is perhaps the flashiest sports film ever made. With its rapid-fire cutting and artsy angles, it at times borders on visual genius. The performances are equally lively, with Billy Bob Thornton shining as the small town high school football coach who shifts seamlessly from patting backs to shouting at faces. His roster, meanwhile, is sprinkled with young talents like Derek Luke as Boobie Miles, the spoiled next big thing, and Lucas Black as Mike Winchell, the introverted team leader.
Unfortunately, other aspects of "Friday Night Lights" hover around the average mark. The story offers little in the way of originality, except for perhaps the ending (if you haven't seen it, I won't spoil it for you). It's basically your typical high-school-sports-team-carrying-great-expectations tale. Director Peter Berg tries covering as many worthwhile human angles as he can. A star player must deal with the end of his career. The coach is shunned by fans taking the game way too seriously. Young men must balance the confusion of early adulthood with the stress of being sports icons. Again, it's nothing we haven't seen before ("Hoosiers" and "The Program" come to mind).
Although it's based on the true story of Texas's Permian High Panthers, "Friday Night Lights" has a decidedly Hollywoodish feel. Perhaps out of necessity -- cramming an entire book into two hours is a gargantuan task -- the characters seem too oversimplified to be real. The Panthers are a diverse bunch, but they're also clichéd: he's the troubled one, he's the one who has trouble with girls, he's the one from a broken home. And while Berg's directorial style is electric, it hampers his ability to capture a small town feel so crucial to the film succeeding.
Those behind "Friday Night Lights" deserve an "A" for effort, something you certainly can't say about every film. But what it delivers in style it generally lacks in substance.