User reviews

A far fetched plot and a little cheesiness does not make this a bad movie. It's downright entertaining, if you're in the mood for a little bubble gum.

Bubble gum as in it tastes good but loses its flavor quickly and you feel guilty about playing along. But coming from a small town where for about four months each year high school football is king, I almost got nostalgic. Of course, I never saw any whipped cream bikinis, but we can all dream.

It's high school high jinx on the grid iron in a small Texas town where football players are gods. The stud QB goes down and a recluctant hero finds that sometimes it's good to be the king. But there's an evil high school football coach to deal with, a sexy health ed teacher and a championship game to go through before we find out if the home team wins (but is there any doubt). James "I don't wont yer life" Van Der Beek is at least earnest and entertaining in the lead role.

"All The Right Moves" with a young Tom Cruise covered the same basic ground several years ago and was a better film, but "Varsity Blues" is not a bad renter.

It's a decent movie--there's nothing really "bad" about it--but as I said, it's pretty much All the Right Moves. It definitely has its differences but also definitely an identical basis: the star QB disliking the barbaric coach and being rebellious toward him, thinking he's out of line with how he coaches the team.

I went to see this at a sneak preview at my local movie theater. From the previews it looked like a really good movie......I was a bit wrong. This movie was OK, but not as good as it should have been. This movie was mostly a GUY flick, and since i'am a GUY I liked it in that way. Mostly this is a movie of showing nudity, adult content, and James Van Der Beek. I know MTV Films/Paramount Pictures could have done better.

My grade: C+

This movie was marketed so heavily when I was younger I still remember seeing all commercials. As for the film itself it's not that bad. I recently rewatched it and feel the same now as I did then. It's just standing up to authority, whether it be parents or teachers or coaches. Mixed with football that's taken extremely to serious in this film. Also mixed with the teenage angst of being an athlete and trying to figure out life. It's mindless entertainment that has its moments, although you've seen it a thousand times before.

I'm not really into football movies I have to admit, the only one's I make an exception for is Adam Sandler's flicks because they are comedies. Varsity Blues is more of a teen drama and the Dawson's Creek lovers, due to James Vander Beek, or whatever his name is. While the movie is pretty good and inspirational, the accents were a little thrown off from time to time. Not to mention it was pretty predictable. John Voight was pretty good, just again, his character was a little too much. Being an American, I know we take our football games pretty seriously, but, I didn't need to know that much.

While you still cheer for the coyotes, it's a fun movie to watch sometimes. I could see where some people would like this movie. Including Regina George. :D See Mean Girls to get that reference. So either you're going to love it, like it, or hate it. You make the choice.

5/10

A film made and possibly distributed by those from MTV has that sense of another mindless teen college football film. The plot is relatively simple and straightforward. There are little subplots along the way which keep things relatively interesting.

Varsity Blues tells the story which starts with starting quarterback (Paul Walker) getting injured then the team being forced to replace him with backup quarterback (James Van Der Beek). Apparently backup plays football because his father makes him, as he turns out to be better than anyone expected and the inevitable occurs later in the film.

Full of cliches and stereotypes that we have seen in other sports dramas before. The film seems to be lived due to nostalgia factor and being somewhat relatable to those who did play high school football.

The film does have solid acting and likeable characters but the overall execution is predictable and of course features a happy ending. Not a terrible film but not as great as some of these high star reviews claim.

While staying with a family in Queretaro, Mexico, in summer 1999, I saw "Varsity Blues" in the local cinema. Since I'm totally numb to anything sports-related, I only half absorbed the movie (I spent most of the time reading the subtitles). Teenage boys are likely to only take interest in the whipped cream bikini scene. But I do know that in Texas, football is king; my mom had unpleasant experiences with that growing up in Galena Park, Texas. Obviously, the problem with calling it football is that we don't play it with our feet; that's why most of the world calls "football" what we incomprehensibly call "soccer". All in all, I'll mainly remember James Van Der Beek and Ali Larter for co-starring in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back".

We played hs football in central jersey for an unrelenting coach ... there were at least 3 other players better than the starting quarterback but he was a pet from junior football so he got the shot ... not terribly accurate or quick on his feet so it was the team that carried him and he failed to see that ... we could have been state champs otherwise ... sour grapes

The central plot and themes of Varsity Blues are extremely meaningful and true to life--if you have to work hard for anything, work hard at it for yourself, not anyone else (or a foul-mouthed football coach played by Jon Voight). However, the movie was extremely unfocused on this central idea with such random plot items as the strip club, Mox's relationship with various girls, etc.

And one more thing. Seniors in high school are still taking sex ed? Apparently so according to this movie...overall, a teen flick that could have been more than average but just had to add immature side items to make it "appealing" to the immature teen crowd. Well, I'm a teenager, and I thought this movie's message was lost among the mess.

Unless you are one or more of the following: 1. From the USA 2. An American football fanatic 3. A fan of teenage college movies 4. Have no interest in intellectually stimulating storylines keep well away from this film.

I liked this movie, but not enough to reccomend it. It may be for some, but there is sort of a problem. The drama in this film is very electrifyingly good is seemed worth. But then the MTV comedy kicked in and made this film kinda, uh, stupid (but of course this film is done by MTV productions). Still, there are powerful performances, especially by newcomer Jmaes Van Der Beek and Jon Voight, who is terrific as the over-bearing coach (even though we might've seemed this before). Not a waste of time, but there is better out there (don't worry though, this is Brian Robbins best film). A-

I recently watch this movie and I have to say that I liked it. This is exactly that small town football that you hear about. The story was very well told and the key acting was on point. There were some parts that could have been left out and the movie would have made the same point. Maybe they were looking for some filler. But all in all it was enjoyable.