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The Movie:
Varsity Blues
Paramount Pictures
Directed By Brian Robbins("Good Burger")
Rated R(For a whole lot of drinking, I'd guess)
"Why doesn't he play football?" That was the question that various uncles and family members asked when I was younger. I smiled and shook my head, humoring them, all the time thinking, "duh, I'd get hit. Hello? What fun is that?"
Needless to say, I never played football. Still somewhat a fan of the game, I was a little interested in this film when I first heard about it. That was until I heard it was an MTV production, which I associate with such films as
"Dead Man On Campus" and, well, the horror that MTV itself has turned into. I went into "Varsity Blues" with zero expectations.
"Varsity Blues", to be honest, was better than what I'd expected from it. Still, that's a far way from perfection. The film stars
James Van Der Beek(TV's "Dawson's Creek") as a second string quarterback named Jon Moxon. Of course, "Varsity Blues" wouldn't be a normal
90's film(or even more over, an MTV production) if it wasn't made up of stereotypical characters. The fat kid, the troublemaker, the good girl,
the naughty cheerleader, the evil coach. The film's energetic nature made it at least watchable, but that doesn't keep it from straying into it's comfortable
formulaic nature.
The story revolves around a small southern town where everything revolves around football. Mainly because, well, there isn't much else to do. Coach Bud Kilmer(John Voight, who recently appeared in
"Enemy Of the State") is the closest thing to the head of this town; Kilmer is a psychotic, racist football coach that doesn't really care about his players, but about the win.
The kids play hurt, sick. Hell or high water, they hit the field no matter what in this town; the kind of town where the quarterback is the big hero. The town's football team has
won 22 championships, and coach Kilmer is willing to do anything to win, even if it means giving his players drugs to kill the pain of their injuries.
When the star quarterback goes down with a very serious injury, Mox is recruited to take over, but soon finds himself ill-equipped to deal with the sudden
celebrity status combined with the expectations of not only his coach, but his parents. He's tempted with the sin of vanity. The rewards(cute girls, fame) dance in front
of him, but, in usual after-school special form, we see the hero rise above his tempations. It's a compliment to Van Der Beek that he makes the dilemas that he faces
at least farely interesting and watchable. Thankfully, the romantic subplots are not given much screentime since they're a little dull. What is enjoyable though,
is a very funny subplot about Mox's younger brother, a religious fanatic that goes through various stages experimenting with different relgions, to hilarious effect. Especially funny is
a sequence towards the end, where the young boy has started up a small cult of his own made up of the children from the neighborhood.
Where the film falls flat in my mind is the way that it, in my opinion, glamorizes drinking. There are many scenes where the characters seem to want to drink as much as humanly possible,
and even another scene where the owner of the local store gives Mox a free 6-pack of beer instead of the Coke he intended to buy. I'm not terribly far out of high school and drinking is a problem
today; there were kids I knew in high school who had problems with alcohol. It's nothing to glamorize or promote.
Back to the film; of course there's tension between Mox and his girlfriend when the head cheerleader Darcy comes into the picture; Darcy talks about how she wants to leave the town, and although
she isn't exactly trying to get out of town the right way, it's a look into a better film that lies just underneath this one. I can understand and I think it's a more believeable idea that these
kids are not only playing for the respect of their parents, they're playing for the scholarship to get out of a one-note small town life that doesn't hold much in their future. There are moments
where the parents are shown being fanatical about the game, and I think the movie brings across the real life drama that plays out across fields every weekend; parents who won't accept a loss. Of course,
"Varsity Blues" must reach a climatic game, with or without the coach on the sidelines.
"Varsity Blues" is basically an after school special(well, an especially drunken after school special), but the performances(especially Van Der Beek and Voight, who seems to be doing a constant impression
of the Coach Buzzcut character from "Beavis and Butthead") are good enough to carry interest throughout the film. It's not flawless by far, but it has a moment here and a moment there where it rises to a level
of being basically entertaining. Close, but no recommendation.
THE DVD:
VIDEO QUALITY:A pretty solid anamorphic transfer from Paramount, but not quite as impressive as their recent release of A Simple Plan. Some of the indoor scenes look a little less than crisp, but still decent. The outdoor scenes in the daylight or even some of the night football games look great- vibrant and well saturated colors throughout, sharp image quality and very good contrast level. Black level in the image is very good as well: blacks are deep and strong throughout. There are occasional artifacts in the image, but they're only present in a couple of scenes and I didn't find them very distracting. Flesh tones are generally okay, but they looked a little off in some of the dimmer indoor scenes. Detail in the image is good throughout, as well. This is a good transfer, but A Simple Plan remains the most impressive Paramount disc I've seen lately. Still, Paramount deserves credit for continuing their new policy of releasing all their discs anamorphic.
SOUND: Great sound mix, with a solid sounding and enjoyable selection of hard rock songs from Green Day and other rock bands. The football game scenes sound especially good, with good crowd noise and bass. There's another scene with gunfire that may not be good for kids to see, but it sounds quite good. Dialogue sounds natural, clear and nicely integrated throughout, with solid volume level.
MENUS: Basic film-themed menus.
EXTRAS: Just the trailer.
GRADES:
The Film: 80/B = (400/500 possible points)
Video: 91/A = (364/400 possible points)
Audio: 92/A = (368/400 possible points)
Extras: 73/C = (219/300 possible points)
Menus: 73/C = (146/200 possible points)
Value: 89/B+ = (267/300 possible points)
Presentation:82.25/B = (82.25/100 possible points)
TOTAL POINTS:1846.25/2200
Overall:84%/B
Final Thoughts: The movie is just okay, but Paramount has provided a really nice disc in terms of quality: good audio and video quality. Paramount has really improved the quality of their discs, and hopefully they can improve the quantity of the extra features beyond simply a trailer.
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