Review of Varsity Blues (1999) by Michael S — 16 Mar 2008

Other high school football movies are more inspirational (Remember the Titans). Other high school football movies are more original (Wildcats). Other high school football movies carry deeper meaning (Friday Night Lights).

But none can match the humor, entertainment, and memorable scenes and quotes from Varsity Blues. While it's hardly a satire, it successfully carries on dual meanings, attacking the nature of high school football worship while simultaneously delivering a dynamite story about a high school football player and his experience becoming the star.

While Jon Voight doesn't deliver much to the film, as a flat, bigoted, insane coach willing to sacrifice any of his players for the 23rd district title, but the rest of the cast (whom I maybe ought to know, but didn't really beyond Amy Smart) carried the film.

I was amazed, watching the movie, how much I remembered from seeing it the first time, and how much fun it was to watch, from the quirky scenes of Moxon reading Vonnegut behind the play book, to the stripping sex-ed teacher, to, of course, everyone's favorite, the ridiculous whipped cream bikini.

The football is believable, the plays are ridiculous but awesome, and the movie has fun all the way. We can quibble with the idiocy of hook and ladders to lineman, or the unlikelihood of coaches like Voight's Kilmer, but the movie takes the genre to a new direction, one that can have fun, offer memorable and likable characters, AND have a good message behind it.

Probably my favorite football movie.