Rating: 
Summary: Pep Rally
Review: As "sports movies" go, Varsity Blues, may not offer anything new, in terms of story. And yet it's still very watchable and manages to entertain--just the same. On paper, it shouldn't work at all, however, thanks to a better than expected performance by a then rising star and a few up and commers before they hit the bigtime, it gets my nod as a good guilty pleasure.
Jon "Mox" Moxon (James Van Der Beek) is the second string quarterback of the Coyotes of West Canaan, Texas. When star quarterback Lance Harbour (Paul Walker) suffers a knee injury just as the team is about to win their 23rd championship in 30 years, Mox is in the hot seat. he, however, is more interested in getting accepted to Brown University, a view which is at odds with that of the pigskin-crazy town as well as that of hard edged Coach Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight). But when Mox becomes a town hero for his football prowess, he may be swayed to put his academic pursuits on the back burner, for athletic glory.
Director Brian Robbins-who failed with 2004's The Perfect Score made '99's Varsity Blues as good as it could be. The script by W. Peter Iliff is filled with a lot of sports movie cliches but is trancended because Robbins captures the mood and setting of a small midwestern football town perfectly. I was surpised at how convincing Van Der Beek is as Mox--wanting to escape the long shadow of his TV gig at the time Dawson's Creek. Before he got Fast And Furious, Walker was content to be a supporting player. Before Amy Smart got caught up in The Butterfly Effect she apppeard here as Jules. What can be said of Voight? He chews a lot of scenery as the coach. Developed by MTV Pictures the film also boasts a pretty good soundtrack.
The DVD's only extra is the theatrical trailer. Based on the film's suprise success and status, I would have expected more bonus material...
Varsity Blues is sort of a 90's version of another football movie, All The Right Moves with a very young Tom Cruise. As I say this film doesn't set the genre on fire and but it is worthwhile and fun
Rating: 
Summary: Impressive
Review: I was suprised at how good this movie was. Well, I was suprised at James Van Der Beek's performance. I am not really sold on him as an actor, but I have to give him props for this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Another success story for MTV.
Review: MTV Films has an amazing track record for churning out films that are low in cost and turn a tidy little profit. In the case of "Varsity Blues", the film cost about $16 million to produce and it raked in more than $52 million in domestic box office.They have the formula down pat. Take an actor/actress that's the current phenomenon. In this case it was James Van Der Beek of the wildly popular "Dawson's Creek" TV series. Throw in a few familiar faces (Scott Caan, Paul Walker & Jon Voight). Mix in a dash of raunchy behavior. Spice it all up with a bunch of popular songs and flashy shots. It all equals...A HIT!! Did you notice the one thing missing from the above description? Yup. That silly little thing called a decent plot. Luckily, there are a bunch of mindless people out there who don't care about something like that and they just throw their money into MTV and Viacom's overflowing pockets. "Varsity Blues" is supposedly about how fanatical some locals get in western Texas over high school football. It goes through all of the motions it is supposed to. The parents are overzealous and just don't understand. The football players spend their time drinking, going to wild parties, attending strip clubs and being treated like royalty because they play football. The coach is a maniac whose only goal in life is to win championships. So on and so forth. Not a single breath of fresh air to be found in this stale film.
Rating:
Summary: Kind of Grows on You
Review: When I first saw this film, I hated it. I could not find a single likeable character in the movie: the backup quarterback who couldn't seem to make up his mind whether to be ambivalent or committed to football; an obsessed, fanatical head coach; shallow, self-absorbed, hedonistic jocks; a whipped cream cheerleader; a little brother with an identity crisis; and moronic football dads wanting to do nothing more than live vicariously through their sons. Outside of a headbanging soundtrack and sensational football action, I was anything but impressed with VARSITY BLUES. Then I caught the film on cable recently, and watched it. Then I rented it, and watched it again. Perhaps I had been too judgmental my first viewing: VARSITY BLUES was slowly but surely revealing itself to me as a very entertaining movie. I came to appreciate Jonathan "Mox" Moxon (James Van Der Beek), a second string quarterback with aspirations to go to an Ivy League college suddenly thrust into the spotlight of his west Texas town as the new starting signal caller. I came to loathe Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight), the epitome of the abusive, cruel, vindictive, win-at-all-costs head football coach. I came to enjoy the small town "feel" of this film, where high school football players are placed on a pedestal and allowed to run wild. And what can you say about Billy Bob (Ron Lester) and Tweeder (Scott Caan), other than these two raunchy characters flavor this movie whenever they appear like onions in Texas chili? Setting aside a hopelessly unrealistic player revolt (Where were the other coaches to take over when Kilmer left?), director Brian Robbins furnishes fast-moving, high-octane football scenes guaranteed to make those of us who have played the game (and still love it) want to strap on the pads again. VARSITY BLUES is less than perfect, like a six-pack of warm beer, but still satisfying to the last drop.
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