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A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I will start by confessing that I have a weakness for football flicks. As a seasoned reviewer, I have over the years come to really admire the fact that American "football" films are not part of a single brand franchise tied to a particular studio but, rather, that any independent film-maker with a good script and financing can throw his hat in the ring. And produce something that may or may not pass the test of time.Varsity Blues will hold up. And mainly because of Voight. (Of the rest of the cast only Amy Smart manages to steal scenes.) Voight is one of the American film industry's most neglected resources, I think. I remember a long time ago, after his breakout role in Midnight Cowboy, I was able to catch Voight doing a stage play in upstate New York. What I remember about that was the impression of how serious this guy was about mastering his craft. If there was no movie deal on the table, he would go find a stage on which to perfect his craft.And what a craft. This reviewer believes that Voight could be the finest living character actor in Hollywood. And also the most forgettable since -- most people forget this -- the job of the character actor is never steal thunder from the stars.This film was done in 1999. This review was written in 2016 where, week after week, an older Voight continues to steal scenes from the leads in the hi-quality Ray Donovan TV show.I am a fan of Ray Donovan, mainly because of Voight.And I think this film is better than the reviews indicate.Mainly because of Voight.

Varsity Blues is about as predictable a movie as you will ever see. It's a movie about high school football which is pretty much like every other movie about high school football. Every cliché of the genre is here. The overbearing coach. The football-obsessed town. The parents living vicariously through their children. The players who see football as their only means of escape. The intellectual player who realizes there's more to life than football. The cheerleader who just wants to be with the star, whoever the star may be at a given moment. The big, fat guy who's there for comic relief. The injury that changes everything. The big game at the end. Did I miss any? Oh yes, of course, the biggest cliché of all...Texas. Where else would you set a movie about a town where high school football is the only thing that matters?So you know what you're in for with this movie. Nothing is going to surprise you here. But as predictable and formulaic as it is Varsity Blues still provides reasonably decent entertainment. The characters may all be clichéd but a number of them still manage to be compelling. James Van Der Beek is the star of the movie, if not the football team. He plays the intellectual backup quarterback, Mox, a guy who plays football not because he wants to but because it is what he is expected to do. Mox's situation changes, how Mox responds to that change is the crux of the movie's rather simple story. Van Der Beek's performance is by no means extraordinary but for this movie it works perfectly fine. He creates a character we can relate to and root for. And Jon Voight, playing the thoroughly detestable Coach Bud Kilmer, does an excellent job creating a character we can despise and root against. Kilmer is a hard-driving jerk, a man who cares only about winning football games. He cares not how many young bodies he must destroy to win another district championship. The conflict between Mox, who gets what life is really about, and Kilmer, who most certainly does not, is quite dramatic. And if a high school football movie can give you some good drama that's really all you can ask. There is nothing spectacular about Varsity Blues. There is nothing that really sets it apart from all the other movies of its type you have already seen. But it is at least entertaining enough to be worth your while. There are good dramatic moments, a few good laughs, some compelling characters. And some rather inventively used whipped cream. It may not rise above its genre but for what it is, and all it was ever meant to be, Varsity Blues is a success.

I really enjoyed the MTV Films era, and it's sad that it didn't last longer than it did, and 'Varsity Blues' feels almost like one of their more special endeavors because it is a far more serious effort than anything they had laid on us before. This definitely isn't 'Beavis And Butt-head Do America' or 'Jackass: The Movie'. The serious approach never really feels like it is taking itself too seriously, there is still obvious satire and blatantly crude gags littered about. 1999 was a long time ago now, and just taking a fast glance around this film we see a whole bunch of recognizable faces nowadays. Jon Voight who we all know from his seemingly endless slew of good performances, Paul Walker of 'The Fast And The Furious' fame, Ali Larter, Amy Smart, Scott Caan. But what about James Van Der Beek? This guy is a decent enough actor, he really gives off the right vibe as the kid who would rather read Vonnegut on the sidelines rather than play football, and I think it's quite shameful that he isn't in more films like this, he was almost generation-defining with his fame garnered from 'Dawson's Creek'. I guess the fact that he pretty much disappeared from the face of the Earth after he made 'The Rules Of Attraction' just helps to ensure the cult-status of films like 'Varsity Blues' in the first place. We have two people working on this project who also worked on 'Good Burger' a few years prior, our director Brian Robbins and Ron Lester who plays one of our more memorable characters here, and it's nice to see them all stepping up the maturity level a little bit. They went from graduating middle school (Nickelodeon) to graduating high school (MTV) in just two years.I remember when this film first appeared in 1999, and I remember it being quite a popular "teen movie" at the time, and I'm only slightly disappointed in myself for having not watched it for a good 13 years after it was made. The film doesn't make you dig deep, it can be slightly predictable, but you are sure to walk away from this one feeling good about what you've just seen.Also, every time I see Jon Voight, I can't help but think of Jerry Reed from 'The Waterboy' one year earlier.VARSITY BLUES -----8/10.

You have the right to say: one more high school varsity football film. And it has absolutely all the defects of these films: the kids are unthinkable non-thinking machines. At first at least. The coach is a brute that dopes his players or gives them unethical injections for them to play even when they should not. He is a gross character who treats his players as if they were in a marine training camp and he were a training sergeant as depicted by some films about the Vietnam war. Gross language, blackmailing, violence even are some of his skins on top of the illegal stuff and unethical actions.But the film reveals two elements that are essential to understand this sport is not exactly and only that. First the fathers are shown as being pure idiots who want their children to play football for only two reasons: because they played football when they were going to that particular high school themselves. They are frankly undrinkable nostalgic-spirited bigots about football. And the second reason is that their sons can earn, or win, a full scholarship in college, alleviating the expense for the family. That transforms football into some kind of narrow-minded culture, not to speak of open institutionalized moral prostitution or slavery.The teenagers are well obliged, willy-nilly for some, to play the game which means violence, superficial clichés and attitudes including racism against the only black on the team, sexism and hefty male-chauvinistic attitudes, some girls overplaying the game by becoming the prize of each game for the winner. Not to speak of alcohol and other inacceptable practices including public or semi-public sex, driving under the influence, drinking binges and challenges, and even some open and gross misdemeanor. This film becomes then some kind of a manifesto against that absurd and inhumane culture.But the film also shows how the initial quarterback is the victim of some medical mishandling from the coach, and how he will in the last game of the season support his "substitute" that leads that game to a direct confrontation of the whole team with the coach. This coach is on the point of forcing the only black player to accept an injection in his knee to go back on the field. The substitute quarterback tells the black player not to do it and he quits when he is menaced by the coach. But he had built a new spirit in the team putting the black chap in the front and using several other tactics that were creative and valorizing for other players than himself, or the coach. The team then refuses to go back for the second half of the game and the coach is forced to leave. The players then take over: the ex- and the new quarterbacks together, the ex- assuming the coach's position. And the rest is the good ending.Football, like all other sports, could be a beautiful adventure for the players all the time if some coaches did not use the system to valorize themselves by over exploiting the players. But apart from what I have said, yes it is another high school varsity football film.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID