Dir: Peter Berg, 2004 (9*)
Sometimes you don’t expect much from a film, and you get a lot. Friday Night is about high school football in west Texas, and how that’s ALL there really is in west Texas; the entire town lives and dies with the football team. This is a town that expects their team to play for the state championship, anything less is a catastrophe, and coaches get fired. Billy Bob Thornton is the coach, Derek Luke the quarterback, as we follow the entire season, game by game, along with all the turmoil and setbacks. This becomes a riveting sports movie, and is based on a true story by H.G. Bissinger, and is very well-directed by actor-turned-directer Peter Berg.

[Update: Berg just directed The Kingdom, in 2007, about terrorism against Americans in Saudi Arabia]