The real-life story of the 1988 Dallas Carter team, who I always knew as the antagonists of Friday Night Lights, is in truth so much better than the story of the Odessa Permian team, it's surprising me that Bissinger didn't write a follow-up book solely about it. The drama of the grade controversy during the playoffs and the robberies that followed make for an excellent story. But here's the problem. Muhammad, who went to Dallas Carter and played football either on the team that is the subject of the film or around the same time period; wrote, directed, and even edited this film himself. Clearly, this was a passion project for him, but I think he was so close to it that he couldn't see the forest for the trees when it came to a lot of this film's problems. The biggest issue I have with the film is that there is almost no effort to establish character with any of the players. We're dropped in to this world as if we, like Muhammad, knew all of these people already. I will give credit to the sentencing scene at the end of the film, which was extremely powerful and well done.The story of this team is so interesting, and so powerful when seen through the sociopolitical lense of 1980s Texas, and race relations in our own time, that I wish this film could have been made by a more competent filmmaker with a more robust budget, like Barry Jenkins, Ryan Coogler, or F. Gary Gray. This movie should have felt more like Straight Outta Compton, but the end result is better compared to Facing the Giants.

I love this film, and the message behind it has a lot of value and we haven't had that in movies for a while. This film sheds light on teenage African American boys who made a mistake, I love the coach and his advice it was always so positive and encouraging. Watch this film to learn from it.

You all honestly thought this movie was good?Really? Just over an hour into the movie one of the characters pulls out a gun, there was a small glimmer of hope that one of those bullets were for me. This story was so badly written, there was no connection formed with any of the characters, so to be honest I really didn't care if they went to prison or Disneyland. I understand the sense that there was supposed to be a lesson learned here and that some decisions can change our lives forever. BUT with the lack of good back story etc i felt like the lesson was.....Don't be a loser and hold people up at gunpoint for fun.

This is a movie that everyone should see. Especially if you have preteen and teenage children. It is a true example of how one wrong decision can ultimately have a very lasting effect on your future.Bravo to Arthur for telling the story of one of the greatest football teams in high school football and the eventual downfall of potentially great athletes who could have had Hall of Fame careers.This picture is true and accurate. No sugar coating the true message Charles Dutton does a great job as Coach Freddie James. His words are hauntingly inspiring David Banner as Royce West is both convincing and powerful. Carter High is a hard lesson to learn, yet does a good job of adding in some elements of humor.