Varsity Blues (1999)

Varsity Blues: Directed by Brian Robbins. With James Van Der Beek, Jon Voight, Paul Walker, Ron Lester. A back-up quarterback is chosen to lead a Texas football team to victory after the star quarterback is injured.

“Like a number of other reviewers, I though u0026quot;Varsity Bluesu0026quot; wouldnu0026#39;t amount to much more than u0026quot;Dawson Plays Footballu0026quot;, MTV-style. Well, itu0026#39;s not — itu0026#39;s actually quite good. It deals fairly realistically with the trials and tribulations of Dawson . . . sorry, Mox (James Van Der Beek), the backup quarterback more interested in u0026quot;Catcher in the Ryeu0026quot; than in his own playbook, who is forced to become the starter for his team. The movieu0026#39;s filled with cliches: the town obsessed with the football team; the overweight, goofy lineman; the slutty cheerleader with the heart of gold; the arrogant coach; the teacher straight out of an early 80u0026#39;s Van Halen video; etc, etc. Surprisingly, thereu0026#39;s enough twisted and wrinkles thrown into these cliches to make the story seem pretty fresh, if not entirely original. You know how the storyu0026#39;s going to end, but youu0026#39;re not always sure how itu0026#39;s going to get there, and thatu0026#39;s what keeps it interesting.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eVan Der Beek is very good, much better that I ever thought Iu0026#39;d give him credit for. Also good: Paul Walker as the original starting quarterback, and Amy Smart as Van Der Beeku0026#39;s smart girlfriend. They played real characters as opposed to stereotypes, and I thought their performances really made the movie. Surprisingly, I thought the weakest link was Jon Voight as the head coach. He was a cardboard villain, no substance to him whatsoever. I kept waiting for the film to explain why he wanted to win so bad, why heu0026#39;d push his kids with such inhuman cruelty . . . and besides u0026quot;because he wants to winu0026quot;, an answer was never given. Too bad, although I think this was more the fault of the script than of Mr. Voight.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s certainly not the best movie ever made — for that matter, itu0026#39;s not even the best football movie ever made — but itu0026#39;s still good. It has heart, and most of the performances make this film a cut above most of the u0026quot;Teen Filmsu0026quot; that are out there. A fun rental.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eB-“