Friday Night LightsMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 70 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
13 Iffy for 13+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 88
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    One of the best football movies ever, Nights in the end celebrates the game. Read full review

  • 88
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    The movie demonstrates the power of sports to involve us; we don't live in Odessa and are watching a game played 16 years ago, and we get all wound up. Read full review

  • 83
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Thornton, giving a splendid, disciplined performance, seamlessly shapes his coach into a believable man of quality rather than star-size charisma. Read full review

  • 80
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    The film lets you get caught up in the excitement of this religion and the addictive nature of those stadium lights. Berg and cinematographer Tobias Schliessler get up close to the action, catching the hits and miscues in all their violent urgency. Read full review

  • 75
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Thornton gets inside the coach's skin. It's a subtle, soulful performance in a movie that otherwise goes for the jugular. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Compelling. Read full review

  • 70
    Washington Post |

    Give credit to Berg for keeping Bissinger's all-too-true ending intact. It's a doozy. Read full review

  • 70
    The New York Times | Dana Stevens

    Uplifting and troubling, partly because it is more honest than most sports movies about the high cost and short life span of high school football glory. Read full review

  • 70
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    Real enough around the edges to hold our attention even if it sacrifices accuracy for storytelling ease. Read full review

  • 70
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Friday Night Lights is the "Black Hawk Down" of high school football movies. As exclusively as Ridley Scott's picture was about combat, this film concerns football and nothing but. Read full review

View more reviews for Friday Night Lights on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 13+ So much more than a football movie.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie has some tense family scenes with an abusive father. Underage characters drink and a character abuses alcohol. There are sexual references and use of the phrase "getting laid." The football scenes are powerfully staged and very intense. Audience members may almost feel that they are the ones getting tackled. The movie is frank in its treatment of injuries, some graphic.
  • Families can talk about what it feels like for these 17-year-old boys to carry so much of their family's and the town's sense of pride. What is good about that? What is bad? Why was it so important to Don's father that he succeed? Why did he define success the way he did? Did his team's championship "carry him forever?" How do parents help their children learn what success means? If it is not football that defines success in your community, what does?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Diverse characters, but plenty of racist language and race is an issue in the final game.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Rough football skirmishes with bloody injuries; father is abusive to son.
  • sex false3 Sex: References to "getting laid," some sexual situations.
  • language false3 Language: Brief strong language, the "N" word.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Underage drinking, and an adult character abuses alcohol.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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