Varsity Blues

Buy This Item Varsity Blues by Paramount  Available from Amazon  $11.99  on 8-10-2008     This MTV-produced drama only looks like an adaptation of H.G. Bissinger's expert dissertation of the church of high school football, <I>Friday Night Lights</I>. The energetic, breezy movie has none of the seriousness of Bissinger's book except on its basic level: in West Texas, high school football is life. Into this world comes Jonathan "Mox" Moxon (James Van Der Beek), a brainy, uncharacteristic jock who sits on the sideline reading <I>Slaughterhouse Five</I> until the West Caanan High School Coyotes All-Texas QB goes down with an injury. Suddenly the spotlight and the tyrannical ways of coach Bud Kilmer (another ace evil turn by Jon Voight) are on Mox and the light is white-hot. There have been several films that show tough, honest kids doing their best against the worst of small-town coaches (Tom Cruise in <I>All the Right Moves</I>, for one) but <I>Varsity Blues</I>, in its glossy style, takes a more curious turn: studying what happens when celebrity comes to the well-adjusted high schooler. Mox starts seeing the rewards of stardom: a six-pack under the counter, acceptance in school, even easy sex from the girl who goes after the starting quarterback (Ali Larter). Will Mox win the big game? Will he bend to the wills of his coach? Will he stay with his old girlfriend? The questions are easy enough to answer, but the film has an ace up its sleeve: Van Der Beek has the stuff to carry the movie. Fans of TV's <I>Dawson's Creek</I> will see a slightly grittier dreamboat here, and Van Der Beek's care with the role makes the most ludicrous parts--including a trip to a strip club--manage a certain aura. <I>--Doug Thomas</I> Reader Reviews really not a great showing of what texas high school football is about. But how would I know I only played there, coached there, played college ball there and then played pro baseball in that state but what would I know I just escaped from Taurine and I am trapped inside amazon's website being forced to watch ridiculous nonsense. It is a cool movie if you are a senior in high school but it is so fictional it is funny. Friday night lights is so much better, but if you watch a movie like Gladiator with Russ Crowe then you really get a feel for what it is like to get kicked in the head and eat dirt at the same time.

Varsity Blues Available from Amazon Price: $11.99 Updated on 8-10-2008.

SPONSORED LINKS