Everybody loves a winner. In the close-knit Texan town of Odessa, a community for which sport is a religion, winning is all they love.

Every week, the locals abandon their homes and businesses to live vicariously through the on-field exploits of the Permian High School Panthers American football team.

Coach Gary Gaines (Thornton) is the man charged with leading the Panthers to glory in the hard-fought 1988 state championship.

A glorious season lies ahead... then fate cruelly intervenes in the closing minutes of the very first game.

The Panthers slay the opposition but star running back James "Boobie" Miles (Luke) tears a ligament in his knee.

Ignoring medical advice, Boobie tells the coach that he is fit and ready to play. Gaines isn't so convinced.

And so the other players, including insecure quarterback Mike Winchell (Black), self-destructive tailback Don Billingsley (Hedlund), brawny tight end Brian Chavez (Hernandez) and scrappy third-string running back Chris Comer (Young) have to raise their game.

Faced with calls from the locals to sack Coach Gaines, the young athletes carry the weight of an entire community on their padded shoulders as they risk everything for sporting glory.

Based on HG Bissinger's real life memoir Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team And A Dream, Peter Berg's expertly crafted sports movie is a rousing spectacle, capturing the overwhelming pressure on the young players to succeed.

"What am I gonna do if I can't play football? I'm not good at nothin'!" sobs Boobie when the severity of his injury finally hits home.

Berg shoots his film on handheld cameras to lend Friday Night Lights a gritty authenticity, which works well during the bruising match day set pieces.

You feel every body blow, every crunching tackle as the Panthers push themselves to the limit to please the baying crowds. Thornton is mesmerising, delivering a nuanced performance as a man, who cannot go anywhere in town without being bombarded with advice, criticism and encouragement, like the radio caller who berates: "There's too much learning going on at that school!"

The players are sketched in broad strokes the momma's boy, the arrogant fool, the bullied underachiever but the younger cast members are excellent.

Friday Night Lights falls agonisingly short of a slam-bang emotional touchdown but the picture has heartfelt sentiment by the bucketful and a finale that literally takes your breath away. 8/10

By Stephen Webb

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, Lee Thompson Young

Cert 12A, 117 minutes

Now showing at UGC