The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

'Varsity Blues' is a fantastic movie! It really gets you thinking about who is really the protagonist and who is really the antagonist. Sad ending though...really installs sadness for the coach at the end as well as the realisation that he is not the bad guy.

2/1/14. For someone doesn't watch sports of any kind I always end up watching all the movies about sports. And, if they are done well, I end up loving them to death, like this one. What an excellent look at the American Religion of Sports! It really shows how disillusioned men stuck in their own lives live through the successes and failures of their sons, especially on the playing field. Such men are worse than stage mothers. Maybe they should have a term like "Sports Fathers." You know what I mean. Voight was excellent as the ultimate bullying coach, and Van Der Beek as the high school senior who is a decent guy who is wise beyond his years. Do catch this one in which Paul Walker was the cute quarterback who has it all until he gets injured. I loved this movie!

Released in 1999, "Varsity Blues" is a sports film about football in Central Texas, where high school football is virtually a religion. I was surprised at how engrossing and entertaining "Varsity Blues" is, much more so than similar films, like "Remember the Titans" (2000), "Woodlawn" (2015) and scores of others.The story revolves around a second-string quarterback, Mox (James Van Der Beek), who doesn't take football too seriously because he's consigned to the bench, but when the team's star-quarterback is seriously injured (Paul Walker), Mox rises to the challenge and begins to experience all the perks that come with being the football hero of the town.I'm not a huge fan of sports film, unless they successfully tap into other genres. "Varsity Blues" does this and is part high school dramedy. The movie features everything you'd want in a film of this ilk -- the sexpot cheerleader (Ali Larter), wild schoolmates (Scott Caan, Ron Lester), the smart girl (Amy Smart, no pun intended), wild parties, miscellaneous coming-of-age antics, megalomaniac coach (Jon Voight) and everything that goes with intense sports competition.Some people complain that the film's unrealistic because of all the extreme things that occur, but the team in "Varsity Blues" represents the typical champion high school football team and therefore they experience the various crazy things these types of teams encounter in real life. It was the same thing with "Platoon." Veterans of Vietnam say no one platoon would undergo all that this platoon experienced, but the group is a microcosm of all platoons throughout the Vietnam war. Also, movies like "Varsity Blues" and "Platoon" may come across as "too much" because filmmakers only have about 2 hours to tell the story and they have to jam a whole year of experiences into that time frame.Others complain about the lack of assistant coaches in the second half of the final game, but we'll have to assume that they went with a certain person and the film just doesn't show it. I rate "Varsity Blues" as high as I do because it's a stand-out sports film and high school dramedy that heavily influenced the more reality-based (but IMO less compelling) "Friday Night Lights," which came out five years later. No genre is beyond redemption or above contempt.The film runs 106 minutes and was shot in the Austin, TX, area (Georgetown, Elgin and Taylor). DIRECTOR: Brian Robbins. WRITER: W. Peter Iliff. GRADE: A-

I just watched this movie for the first time a couple of weeks ago. This is due to my very recent interest in anything Paul Walker. Shallow, I know.I am not a football fan, nor am I an athlete, but I found the game scenes fascinating. I usually skip the other parts just to watch the game scenes. And soundtrack is awesome.I don't like cerebral or artsy movies. I need to rest my brain after work. So its rare that I watch any of those Oscar-type movies. This movie is perfect for what I need.The storyline has been used before. But I like those kinds of story anyway. I like seeing the good guys win, even if its just in the movies.