Friday Night Lights (2004)

My Review

“Friday Night Lights” is a sports drama about a high school football team which is the center of cultural life not only at the school but in the entire community of Odessa, Texas, in 1988. Director Peter Berg (“The Rundown” 2003), who also co-wrote the screenplay with David Aaron Cohen, put together a picture with a good balance between football scenes, drama between coaches and players, and involvement of the local town folk.

The cast is headed by Billy Bob Thornton as the coach and Derek Luke as the star player. Co-stars include Jay Hernandez, Tim McGraw, Amber Heard, Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund, Connie Britton, and Connie Cooper. The watchable “Friday Night Lights” was based on “Friday Nights Lights: A Town, A Team, and a Dream,” a 1990 book by H. G. Bissinger. It was popular in theatrical release for producer Brian Grazer, Imagine Entertainment, and Universal Pictures. It was filmed in Odessa, Abilene, Austin, and Houston, Texas.