Review: Varsity Blues

Directed by: Brian Robbins

Written by: W. Peter Iliff

Starring: James Van Der Beek, Jon Voight, Paul Walker, Ron Lester, Scott Caan

Rating: [3.5/5]

Much has been spoken about the power of religion to unite and destroy, which somewhat makes sense because it centers on a higher being. However, other than Christianity the main religion in Texas centers on the sport of football. A level of dedication and obsession expanding beyond the players and coaches but also out to the community. Having so much center on the backs of underage children opens up the door for many problems, which Varsity Blues gets into and then some. 

In the small town of Canaan, Texas, a local high school led by the much-adulated coach Bud Kilmer (Jon Voigt) has football as the lifeblood of everything that goes on. When the star quarterback gets injured, Jonathan “Mox” Moxon (James Van Der Beek), who only stayed on the team to appease his father has to step up to lead the team to glory. Stepping into his new position opens up his world in ways he did not expect. 

Texas’s obsession with football comes as no surprise to anyone who knows anything about the sport but to the degree it gets catalogued in this feature borders on concerning with how much the community centers on it. One can concede the importance of community, but centering it on the destruction of the bodies of these young guys brings the trouble that this feature seeks to highlight. These kids destroy their bodies and do things they certainly should not, as displayed in this feature, not only to avoid the disappointment of their community but also their coach, who will do whatever it takes to win. It makes me shudder to think how often this occurs in high schools where these kids receive no compensation for all of their troubles but all contributing to what this town values as having a state-championship worthy high school football program. 

This seeps out to the families where you have parents comparing themselves by measuring the ability of their sons’ abilities to play the game that borders directly on embarrassing. Mox’s father, Sam (Thomas F. Duffy) exemplifies this more than anyone else in the way he gets overly jubilant about his son no longer sitting on the bench but getting the opportunity to become the starting quarterback for the team. The obsession of this father reaches a cartoonish level where a particular scene exhibits how Mox’s father does not care about his son receiving a full-ride scholarship to attend Brown University and would rather Mox focus on the upcoming game. Beyond laughable but could certainly display a reality that exists out there with how obsessive the passion for this sport completely consumes everyone from young children to the eldest adult. 

Documenting all of this madness ultimately defines what this feature does well from the lows to the juvenile highs where we get moments about the ridiculous things these players get away with and gain the affection of the teenage girls around them. Mox immediately gets targeted by Darcy Spears (Ali Larter), the captain of the cheerleading squad when he takes up the mantle for the famous whipped cream bikini scene this feature offers. This obsession with football goes beyond just the adulation these players receive from the community but what they represent and for some football serves as the gateway out of the small town, which makes each game and play all the more significant. 

Mixing together the fun aspects of this feature along with the brutal realities of what it takes to win having no disregard for the associated consequences. We receive the larger villain of Coach Bud Kilmer that we can focus on but he serves as nearly a symptom to the larger problem with what transpires with this sport, which this feature had no real interest in fully pursuing. Certainly not something to knock it for because it manages to entertain as well as get into these issues in a manner anyone can feasibly enjoy. We certainly do not receive the best acting by the cast involved but they do enough to make us care for these characters and what they go through in this critical time of their lives. Featuring the typical rousing scenes one would expect from a football movie, this feature most certainly gets the job done.