Varsity Blues (1999)

A movie about a high school football team, created by MTV, starring all the teen-heartthrobs of the late 90s, I couldn't have been more uninterested. For 17 years, I avoided seeing this film, I figured it would be a steaming pile full of good looking people with their shirts off, but after catching the ending on TV, I decided to check it out and I'm glad I did. In Texas, football is everything, even at the high school level. The West Canaan Coyotes are one of the best teams in the state, thanks to a hard nosed, old school coach, and an NFL bound Quarterback, but their perfect season takes a turn when the Quarterback goes down with a serious knee injury. The Coyotes are left in the hands of John Moxon (James Van Der Beek), a kid who hasn't taken a snap in three years, who is only on the team because of his father. The coach hates him, the town doubts him, but something amazing happens when Mox is on the field, he's actually good. James Van Der Beek stars and honestly, I always felt that he was too much into the whole teen-heartthrob persona, I never took him seriously as an actor, or envisioned him being good in a role like this. Just as the town was surprised by how good Mox was on the field, I was just as surprised by how good Van Der Beek was in this role. When you add Jon Voight to the equation, as the hard nosed coach, things really come together. The two men hate each other, but are forced to work together, it's this dynamic and tension behind the scenes that really makes the off the field action as interesting as what's taking place on the field. Varsity Blues is produced by MTV, stars actors I normally wouldn't watch, and as it turns out it is one of the most exciting and intense sports films I've ever seen. One of the things I love about films, is that you can never judge them based on anything else other than their content. On the surface, this is something I'd never watch, but happenstance brought me to it, and it's honestly one of the best football movies I've ever seen.

You have the right to say: one more high school varsity football film. And it has absolutely all the defects of these films: the kids are unthinkable non-thinking machines. At first at least. The coach is a brute that dopes his players or gives them unethical injections for them to play even when they should not. He is a gross character who treats his players as if they were in a marine training camp and he were a training sergeant as depicted by some films about the Vietnam war. Gross language, blackmailing, violence even are some of his skins on top of the illegal stuff and unethical actions.But the film reveals two elements that are essential to understand this sport is not exactly and only that. First the fathers are shown as being pure idiots who want their children to play football for only two reasons: because they played football when they were going to that particular high school themselves. They are frankly undrinkable nostalgic-spirited bigots about football. And the second reason is that their sons can earn, or win, a full scholarship in college, alleviating the expense for the family. That transforms football into some kind of narrow-minded culture, not to speak of open institutionalized moral prostitution or slavery.The teenagers are well obliged, willy-nilly for some, to play the game which means violence, superficial clichés and attitudes including racism against the only black on the team, sexism and hefty male-chauvinistic attitudes, some girls overplaying the game by becoming the prize of each game for the winner. Not to speak of alcohol and other inacceptable practices including public or semi-public sex, driving under the influence, drinking binges and challenges, and even some open and gross misdemeanor. This film becomes then some kind of a manifesto against that absurd and inhumane culture.But the film also shows how the initial quarterback is the victim of some medical mishandling from the coach, and how he will in the last game of the season support his "substitute" that leads that game to a direct confrontation of the whole team with the coach. This coach is on the point of forcing the only black player to accept an injection in his knee to go back on the field. The substitute quarterback tells the black player not to do it and he quits when he is menaced by the coach. But he had built a new spirit in the team putting the black chap in the front and using several other tactics that were creative and valorizing for other players than himself, or the coach. The team then refuses to go back for the second half of the game and the coach is forced to leave. The players then take over: the ex- and the new quarterbacks together, the ex- assuming the coach's position. And the rest is the good ending.Football, like all other sports, could be a beautiful adventure for the players all the time if some coaches did not use the system to valorize themselves by over exploiting the players. But apart from what I have said, yes it is another high school varsity football film.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID

In the football-worshiping town of West Canaan, Texas, bench-warming James Van Der Beek (as Jonathan "Mox" Moxon) gets his chance to score when handsome blond quarterback Paul Walker (as Lance Harbor) is sidelined by injury. Hefty Ron Lester (as Billy Bob) and his pet pig "Bacon" give the film weighty fun. Horny Scott Caan (as Charlie Tweeder) adds latent homosexual laughs. Kept back in high school, the lads are pushed to the limit by loud-mouthed coach Jon Voight (as Bud Kilmer). There are plenty of shirt-shedding cheerleader types, hot for football muscle - especially luscious Ali Larter (as Darcy Sears) in a whipped cream bikini.*** Varsity Blues (1/15/99) Brian Robbins ~ James Van Der Beek, Jon Voight, Paul Walker, Ron Lester

-The cops can bust a teen drinking party and no one will be arrested, even when a minor is talking to a cop drinking -You can steal a cop car and will not get in any trouble -Once you become a starting quarterback girls will automatically invite to their house and get naked -Your girlfriend can see you kiss another girl but she'll just sigh and walk away -You can through the football at other teams' mascots and no one will be angry -When fat linemen get upset, they give away their pig and shoot trophies -The greatest high school football player in Texas can be out for the season because a fat kid fell over, and no one will be angry at the fat kid -The head coach will find out about 6 players going to a strip club but will not find out about the whole team going to a drinking party -The greatest team in Texas only has one coach