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Varsity Blues
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 20 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 4 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: W. Peter Iliff
Directed by: Brian Robbins
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 15, 1999
DVD: May 31, 1999
Running Time: 106 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for strong language throughout, sexuality and nudity, and some substance abuse
Starring James Van Der Beek, Amy Smart, Jon Voight, Paul Walker, Ron Lester, Scott Caan, Richard Lineback, and Ali Larter
In West Texas, where high school football is life, two quarterbacks compete for attention from their fans, their family and their coach.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Hardball Meet Dave Norbit Ready to Rumble The Perfect Score The Shaggy Dog
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The movie is also brisk and wholehearted and smarter than you expect.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Mike Musgrove
This flick has modest ambitions, but it delivers the goods in a fresh manner.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
A paint-by-numbers story that offers no surprises and a hero and villain etched in white and black with few shades of gray.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Unfortunately, Voight is not in every scene, and, when he's absent, Varsity Blues has a tendency to flounder, descending into the realm of formulaic sports movie melodrama.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune John Petrakis
If you are willing to overlook the occasional missed block, clumsy tackle or dropped pass, there is more than enough in Varsity Blues to keep you engrossed.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Director Brian Robbins ("Good Burger") and screenwriter W. Peter Iliff ("Prayer of the Rollerboys") have wrapped their moral fable in a glossy package of hard football action and towel-slapping, hard-body fun that might seem exciting if you've never seen a movie before.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
Its depiction of teenage behavior appears calculated to seem irreverent while satisfying expectations.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) M.V. Moorhead
Originally, somebody may have wanted the film to be a serious exploration of the dark side of high school sports, but it ended up as just one more sports picture.
Read Full Review >Film.com Tom Keogh
It is an ostensibly serious story about being young and struggling to wrest control over one's life from the hands of fools, yet it doesn't behave like a serious drama that wants to lead us anywhere.
Los Angeles Times John Anderson
A trashy little movie about drinking, football and drinking, is also one of those films that pretends to moralize about the very behavior it milks for every giggle it can get.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A movie that doesn't buy into all the tenets of our national sports religion; the subtext is that winning isn't everything.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
We are aware going in that Varsity Blues' cannot be a landmark of world cinema. Yet working within the tired formula, the picture turns out to be not so bad.
Read Full Review >Film.com Robert Horton
Eventually fizzles out badly.
Film Threat Ron Wells
It is not quite as stupid as it looks. I'm not saying it ISN'T dumb, though, just not as bad as I think even the studio thought.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Sandra Contreras
This coming-of-age drama scores big points for trying to honestly tell a story rather than just pass the time.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Its vague stabs at moralizing and goofball shenanigans are an odd mix. It's not the high school experience I had, nor is it probably like yours.
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
An unappetizing mix of raucously vulgar comedy and teen-angst melodrama.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Craig Marine
Half-comedy, half-coming-of-age movie with another half or so of sports film and maybe another quarter of soundtrack that adds up to 175 percent of a bad movie.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The story is mildly entertaining in its hackneyed way, but there's no excusing the picture's exploitative treatment of almost all the female characters.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.7 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Melvin G. gave it a10:
The movie is the best ever made by MTV. Jon Voight plays a strong role. It had everything in it, sports, girls, music, humor, drama, and suspense. I believe all of that adds up to a pretty good movie.
Pat C. gave it a 3:
Starts out promising but deteriorates rapidly. One may find the meaning of life by playing football, but this movie falsely reports the meaning is found by winning the big game. Miss Davis would have made the movie a frolic if the movie hadn't portrayed itself as realistic. And the police attitude is Aw Shucks when their patrol car is stolen for a joyride, simply because the team is winning? Well, this movie isn't. QB Moxon may presume to be a hero at the end of this film, but in real life anyone who smashes his father in the face with a football will need years of reflection and possible therapy before presuming to approach anything genuinely heroic. Also, I don't believe a character as strong as Voight would simply drop off the screen at the climax. His part was mis-written, and the redemption he could have brought to the story was pissed away.
Jim gave it a 10:
Best football movie ever!
