“Friday Night Lights” may seem like another dramatic football movie made all too often, but in actuality, it was adapted from a true story written in 1988.

The story of “Lights” is anything but a “Varsity Blues”-style romp, which frames the grandeur of high school football with whipped cream and strip clubs.

In 1988, H.G. Bissinger lived in Odessa,Texas and documented the town’s high school team, the Permian Panthers. His novel looked into a town’s obsession and the simple lives of young men expected to play a dangerous game. The adapted film (directed by Bissinger’s second cousin, Peter Berg) does the same.

“Lights” opens against the stark Texas landscape with oil rigs scattered across flatlands. While never addressed in the film, Odessa has likely seen better days and has one hope left within its city limits: football.

The haunting mood of the town’s addiction to its winning team pervades every corner of Odessa, from the large rings on the fingers of Odessa elders who won games years before, to the large signs identifying each player’s lawn. Saying the town put an immense pressure on the team to win is an understatement – when the team loses one game, coach Gary Gaines finds “For Sale” signs viciously placed on his lawn.

Billy Bob Thorton plays Gaines, seamlessly portraying the strange balance of motivation and verbal-punishment as he reprimands each player to win. The weight Gaines must carry is daunting.

The lives of the players are illuminated as quarterback Mike Winchill (Lucas Black) struggles with the need to stay with his ill mother and the conflicting hope of getting out of Odessa. Star running back Boobie Mitchell (Derek Luke) must contend with a career cut short, experiencing a debilitating injury promising to keep college recruiters – and all hopes of a successful future – from him forever.

The relationship between Charles and Don Billingsley (Garrett Hedlund and Tim McGraw) documents the angst-filled relationship of a father who had – and has now lost – his best years, vs. his son’s struggles through the season and with his father’s acceptance. McGraw and Hedlund display the stress between the two with an explosive chemistry to make any audience uneasy.

Nobody in Odessa has been allowed to live a life outside football. The tragedy of the sweet memories and childhoods is lost within Permian’s finest.

When you see “Friday Night Lights,” be prepared for a film that, by its own definition, is perfect:

“Being perfect is about being able to look your friends in the eye and know that you didn’t let them down, because you told them the truth and that truth is that you did everything you could.”