"Varsity Blues" is the type of movie you don't see very often, which is to say it isn't limited to just one genre, but an even balance of comedy and drama. It is the story of a football team, and the players start realizing that most of the people who are near to them only care about them playing football and winning football. The star quarterback is the first to see this when his girlfriend leaves him when he gets injured enough to have to quit. The new quarterback John Moxon (James Van Der Beek) also realizes that even his own parents care more about him winning and being the best player on the team than they care about him as their son. Jon Voight slithers on the screen as (SURPRISE!) the film's 'bad guy', the team's coach, who wants nothing but to win, and to win his way. Voight was a good choice for the role, because he's already gotten to where you despise him as soon as he's on the screen, which is basically the impression you get with his character, coach Kilmer. Although Kilmer has been coaching for years, this is the first team with someone who cares enough to actually stand up to him. This type of movie has been done before, but this still does a good job with this type of story. It has the typical girl-kisses-someone-else's-boyfriend-who-suddenly-realizes-his- girlfriend-is-watching scene which has been done so many times in cheezy sit-coms and dramas, but at least it doesn't follow up with a studio audience ooo-ing at it. It leads up to the final confrontation between the team and the coach, where we see how much guts the players have between them to stand up to someone like this, and how far they are willing to go. This film is lots of fun, with some laughs saved up for the right places, instead of just a bunch of random cheap laughs you find splattered everywhere in "The Waterboy" (1998), which was only enjoyable if you really wanted to like it to begin with. "Varsity Blues" is definitely a feel-good movie, although you probably shouldn't take the kids.
Review of Varsity Blues
