" varsity blues " is the best film of 1999 thus far .
unfortunately , it is also the first film i have seen from 1999 .
it is another one of those small - town sports movies that involves a flawed , but good - heartedfrom 1999 .
it is another one of those small - town sports movies that involves a flawed , but good - hearted protagonist ; a rough and meanspirited coach ; and the " big game .
"
by the end , will the underdog overcome great odds and triumph ?
will everyone in the town turn against the coach ?
will the team win the climactic game ?
do cats bathe themselves regularly ?
the so - called " hero " in question is john moxin ( james van der beek ) , a senior at west canaan high school who plays for the varsity football team , but is really just hoping to get a scholarship at brown university so that he can get out of the dead - end town .
at least he 's got the right idea , since west canaan , texas is portrayed in the film as , frankly , pathetic , with the whole town treating the weekly football games as the second coming .
heck , in one scene , the front page of the town 's newspaper is proclaiming about the west canaan badgers ' big win the night before .
when the team 's star quarterback is severely injured , tearing the ligaments in his leg , john finds himself taking over as the team 's leader , but his few minutes of glory do not last long , as he begins to have problems with his girlfriend ( amy smart ) when she discovers he spent an evening with another girl ( ali larter ) . and after staying out all night with his drinking buddies at a strip joint ( all of the teenagers in the film are portrayed as raging alcoholics ) , the team loses their second - to - last game , putting john at feuds with the coach ( jon voight who , like gary oldman , is overstaying his welcome in the typecasted role as the " bad guy " ) .
worse yet , the coach is threatening to ruin john 's scholarship chances if the badgers do n't win their final game .
the plotting of " varsity blues " is as old as the hills , and contains every cliche in the book .
admittedly , i was never exactly bored while i was watching it , but i hasten to add that i was rarely ever entertained
.
throughout , all i could really think of is how virtually the same exact story had been filmed with a great deal more thoughtfulness and maturity in 1983 's " all the right moves .
" one of the biggest problems
i had with the film is how little of interest any of the characters actually were , least of all certainly not john , who , played by van der beek ( of tv 's " dawson 's creek " ) , is pretty much a bore without any engaging qualities .
while i probably should n't blame this on van der beek , since the inauspicious and
" by - the - numbers " screenplay by w .
peter iliff is n't of any help , he is still certainly not in the league of tom cruise in " all the right moves .
"
the story revolving around john , meanwhile , is extemely thin throughout , particularly for its 104-minute running time , and it alternates between uninspired comic relief ( as in when the students see their sex education teacher working as a stripper at the club ) and heavy - handed melodrama .
the romance between john and his girlfriend had the potential to be an adequate subplot , but we also learned very little about her , which is unfortunate since amy smart , whom i do n't think i 've seen before in past films , is probably the only character written with any sort of intelligence .
smart does not allow her character to become the " passive girlfriend , " instead coming off as a young woman with her own ideas and opinions .
it 's too bad the camera did n't linger on her long enough
so we could hear some of those thoughts .
the adult characters probably fare the worse of any , since they all must play residents of a dim - witted town that cares about nothing but football .
john 's relationship with his parents can also be telegraphed far in advance .
his father is set on him becoming a football player at a university , but john does n't want any part of that .
his mother stands beside her " big , strong husband " and is a passive female .
finally , jon voight plays the stock bully coach character and he does nothing to make the thankless role any more than one - dimensional .
saving " varsity blues " from being a total washout are a few amusing sequences , including one set in the sex education class , which did get a laugh out of me .
the scenes of playing football were well - shot and thankfully did n't overstay their welcome , as many sports films fall victim to .
but leaving the theater , the question i had in my mind was why did this film need to be made ?
i seem to be asking this question quite a lot lately , since the same old stories seem to be cranking out of hollywood .
do we really need another high - school sports film ?
no , we do n't , and certainly not one of this low - caliber , which felt like a cut - and - paste job of spare parts from much better , but similar , films .
" varsity blues , " no doubt is the first one , however , to include an earnest scene in which one of the characters is only wearing whipped cream on their private parts .
" by - the - numbers " which is unfortunate as old as the hills , and contains every cliche in the book felt like a cut - and - paste job of spare parts from much better , but similar , films one of the biggest problems extemely thin throughout pretty much a bore without any engaging qualities certainly not one of this low - caliber i was rarely ever entertained