[VIDEO ONLINE]

 


[SOUNDSTAGE!]

September 1999

Varsity Blues
Reviewed by Doug Schneider
DVD Format

Overall Enjoyment: *1/2
Picture Quality: ****
Sound Quality: ****
Packaged Extras: *

Starring James Van Der Beek, Jon Voight, Ron Lester

Directed by Brian Robbins

Theatrical Release: 1990
DVD Release: 1999
Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen (Anamorphic)


I was having great difficulty deciding on which DVD to rent one night. It seemed everything that looked interesting I'd seen. As I stared at the limited selection on the rack at Rogers Video (a Canadian-based rental chain) Varsity Blues finally caught my eye. I turned the rental box around and read the Rogers Video Parent's Guide:

  • Sex/Nudity: topless strippers, talk about sex, men's bare butts, teen couple has sex, a girl in a whipped cream bikini.
  • Drugs/Alcohol: underage teens get drunk at several parties and at a bar, marijuana use, men drink while watching the game, guys drink at the bar.
  • Violence/Scariness: bone crushing hits on the field, people get injured playing football.
  • Objectionable Words/Phrases: about 75

According to the supposedly well-meaning folks who rate our movies, it's suitable viewing for those 14 years of age and above.

I hoped to see an inspiring movie that would lift my spirits that night. The promise of a 'whipped cream bikini' undoubtedly helped to solidify the rental sale.

Varsity Blues stars James Van Der Beek as Jonathan Moxon, a high school senior in a small town where football is like religion and parents want to relive their high school memories vicariously through their children. Jonathan is a talented quarterback who attempts to follow his own lead and participates somewhat reluctantly in the game. He's put off by the motives and pressures placed on the kids by the adults. He sees through all of them, even his own father. However, when the starting quarterback for the team gets injured, Moxon becomes the starter and temporarily succumbs to the temptations of sports stardom. How it all ends up anyone can guess.

Varsity Blues paints itself as a moralistic coming of age type teenage film with a message to "make your own rules." Too bad it does not practice what it preaches. It begs, borrows and steals from countless other movies and packages it all in a slick music-video-like film with lots of scantily clad women and a blaring rock soundtrack. It's a paint by numbers, cliched plot involving characters suffering from a severe lack of originality. The parents are all portrayed as stupid and greedy and of course all the students can be relied on to know the truth and rise to victory in the end. We've been here before and seen it all done much better.

The only redeeming quality in this film is the acting talent of Jon Voight (is anyone keeping track of how many movies he pops up in these days?).  He plays the evil coach Bud Kilmer who relishes in the player's pain in order to win the game. Voight must have sensed the low-end nature of this script since he gives it a much needed boost with an over-the-edge performance that makes him as zany as he was in Anaconda. His performance is laughable, that's for sure, but at least it's entertaining.

On the technical side, it's a high quality video and audio transfer. There is excellent color, detail and clarity. Similarly, the sound is full and spacious with good extension that will exercise the bass drivers of speakers.Vocals are easily discernible and the many music tracks are quite well-recorded. The extras included on this disk are almost non-existent with only scene selection and the theatrical trailer. I was surprised not to see bios of its stars for teeny-bopper fans since Van Der Beek comes from the hit TV show Dawson's Creek. This is an obvious attempt to capitalize on that show's fame and once again try to force one of its star to be a bonafide movie star. Once again, it doesn't work, but I fear one of these days our patience will wear so thin our barriers will go down and it will happen.

As a high-school sports film Varsity Blues is completely uninspiring -- Hoosiers, from some years back, is a much better choice. As a coming of age type film for teenagers, a far more entertaining movie is this year's American Pie. I guess as long as MTV wants to be involved in movies like this we'll continue to get so-so teenage flicks with television stars who want to be movie stars and soundtracks looking to be number one. Eager to get the lucrative teenage market to hand over its money, they'll blatantly use every trick in the book. I suggest making your own rules by keeping your wallet in your pants. The whipped cream bikini isn't even worth it. Definitely not recommended.


GO TO
[ Current Video Online Issue ] [ Video Review Archives ]

Copyright © 1999
SoundStage!
All Rights Reserved
[SOUNDSTAGE!]