"Friday Night Lights" is a sports movie that will have you crying like a little baby.

Powerfully directed, well-written with stalwart acting. It's a strong film. However, the quick camera movement, high-cut-count editing and loud hard music may make the film somewhat abrasive to those who pre-date MTV.

Else, the film has few flaws. That's not to say that the quick cuts/music scheme is a flaw. Rather, that's a stylized choice. Many will find that this choice adds to the boiling pressure bubbling inside these 17-year-olds, still others may find it too overbearing to enjoy. The few real flaws are minor. Without giving too much away, the film obviously takes liberties to dramatize an event here and there just to the edge of believability. But since most of the film is concerned with the gritty reality that smacks into the faces of these young men, those few near "Hollywood moments" are easily forgiven.

In a nutshell, a football-crazed town jams their expectations down the throats of the young men and coach of the hometown HS. football team. Student/players have to learn to deal with their success-crazed parents and neighbors while trying to play their best and still enjoy the game. At the brink of moving on to college and other life decisions, the young men struggle to make sense of it all.

The screenplay is based on the book by H.G. Bissinger who comments, "In the mid-'80s, I remember driving out west, going through little towns in Alabama, Louisiana and Texas and seeing their high school football stadiums. They were always beautiful, always painted, and the fields were always being watered even if there was a drought. These places really are shrines, like temples, and my dream was to write this book. It wouldn't leave my head until I found this town called Odessa. So I quit my job and decided to go there. ... I already had my narrative core, which was the season, a year full of unexpected surprises. I had no idea what kind of stories would unfold. If I was writing fiction, I couldn't have made up many of the things that happened. I don't have the imagination. This was, professionally, the most exciting and memorable year of my life."

See also "Remember the Titans".