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Varsity Blues (1999)

tomatometer

40

Average Rating: 5/10
Reviews Counted: 52
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 31

This is a predictable football movie that lacks intensity.

38

Average Rating: 5/10
Critic Reviews: 13
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 8

This is a predictable football movie that lacks intensity.

audience

75

liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 114,746

My Rating

Movie Info

In his first feature following the success of television's Dawson's Creek, James Van Der Beek stars as Jonathan Moxon, the back-up quarterback on his high-school football team, the West Canaan Coyotes. In West Canaan, the only thing that matters is football, and the man who matters is the one with 22 divisional championships, coach Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight). Mox, as the young "A" student is called, is wrapping up his senior year on his way to Brown University in the shadow of his childhood friend,

R, 2 hr.

Drama

W. Peter Iliff

May 31, 1999

Paramount Pictures

Cast

All Critics (70) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (32) | DVD (10)

Slickly enjoyable!

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | Comment
Entertainment Weekly
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Although the film takes a worthwhile detour or two, it ultimately finds its way back to the well-worn track of its genre.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comment
ReelViews
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Varsity Blues eventually fizzles out badly!

January 1, 2000 Comment
Film.com
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A paint-by-numbers story that offers no surprises and a hero and villain etched in white and black with few shades of gray.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
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Scenes work, but they don't pile up and build momentum.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
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...tries hard to be honest and sensitive but often as not comes across as heavy-handed. (Blu-ray Edition)

September 28, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

...slick, well made, and well acted, but it takes no chances. Seems a wasted opportunity.

September 28, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

...someone could make a very interesting, nuanced film about the exalted place that high school football holds in some parts of Texas... this isn't that film.

January 29, 2005 Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | Comment (1)
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Van Der Beek and Voight weigh in with convincing performances .

August 16, 2002 Full Review | Comment
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

A serviceable 1990s teen flick.

August 2, 2002 Comment
Arizona Daily Star
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Varsity Blues

A Texas high school quarterback defies convention and a hard-line coach as he leads his team to success and raucous teen fun.My favorite sports film of all time is 61*, and that's not just because I'm a die-hard Yankees fan. I think my favorite moment in Billy Crystal's film is Roger Maris's response to one of the

June 11, 2011
hunterjt13
Jim Hunter

Super Reviewer

I made it my goal to see all of the football films in the world since I love Friday Night Lights so much, and man was that a mistake. Varsity Blues is a pedestrian, fart joke sort of movie with the brain capacity of a three year old.

January 26, 2009
jennifxu

Super Reviewer

    1. Sam Moxon: You get the opportunity of a lifetime, and you treat it like a joke...
    2. Mo Moxon: Playing football may have been the opportunity of your lifetime, but I don't want your life!
    – Submitted by Caroline B (3 months ago)

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