For those who have no interest in A) sports films, B) American football or C) sports films about American football should skip ahead to another review. There is nothing for you here. But for those with a taste for tight trousers and testosterone, read on. Down in the west-Texas town of Odessa, people play high school fuw-pah as a religion, the game whose secular power is sacred and overwhelming, a creed more important that church or state, one that gives the town its purpose and meaning. Heavy stuff. In Odessa the fulcrum is Coach Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) whose divine duty is to protect the town and take their soldiers to the top of the state champs. Failure is not an option. Thus the scene is set for a surprisingly riveting film despite a run-of-the-mill plot.

Brian Grazer produced 8 Mile and lends a similar near-documentary approach to the first half of Peter Berg’s film that fuses gritty reality with hyper-production. It’s an exciting veneer made deeper by excellent performances from a cast of unknown, twenty year old ‘teenagers’ (a convention Hollywood would do well to drop) who are terrific support for Thornton in dominant, gruff-yet-caring mode. While clichés abound in the back story – frustrated parents, kids scared of the future – they’re soon forgotten once the camera hits the field. This is where the heart-stopping action is and where Berg wisely keeps his camera to capture every body slam and broken bone. He also opts for contentious honesty in detailing the unbearable pressure and acutely short life-span of high-school glory. As sports films about American football go, Friday Night Lights is about as good as it gets.

// COLIN FRASER