Varsity Blues is a 1999 American coming-of-age sports comedy-drama film directed by Brian Robbins and written by W. Peter Iliff. It stars James Van Der Beek, Jon Voight, Paul Walker, Ron Lester, and Scott Caan. In the film, a small-town high school football team deal with the pressures of adolescence, their football-obsessed community, and their authoritarian coach.

Varsity Blues was theatrically released in the United States on January 15, 1999, by Paramount Pictures. The film grossed $54.3 million worldwide against a $16 million budget, but received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its depiction of small-town communities and criticism for its cliches. Though it had a 39.6% decline in earnings, it was still enough to keep it at the top spot for another week.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 47% approval rating based on reviews from 58 critics. The site's consensus states, "This is a predictable football movie that lacks intensity." On Metacritic, it has a score of 50 out of 100 based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average rating of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert noted in his Chicago Sun-Times review that, "Scenes work, but they don't pile up and build momentum." ReelViews online film critic James Berardinelli's summary was that although it "takes a worthwhile detour or two, it ultimately finds its way back to the well-worn track of its genre." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly also gave a positive review, remarking that while the film "has its shallow gags and cliché characters…it also creates a vivid portrait of a small-town community in the grip of an obsession".

Soundtrack

Hollywood Records released the soundtrack on January 12, 1999.

  • Choice Drama Movie (nominated)

; 1999 MTV Movie Awards

  • Best Breakout Performance: James Van Der Beek (won)
  • Best Movie Song (nominated)

; 2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards

  • Best Male Newcomer: James Van Der Beek (nominated)

Other media

The film was later parodied in the 2001 film Not Another Teen Movie. Ron Lester reprised his role of Billy Bob by playing a nearly identical character named Reggie Ray, while Ali Larter's whipped cream bikini scene was parodied. Larter liked the "shock value" of the scene which was her first during the film's production in her first movie role. The film was also quoted in the 2004 film Mean Girls as being Regina George's favorite movie.

In January 2002, Nelvana and MTV announced that they would co-produce a television series based on the film. Screenwriter Peter Iliff and producer Tova Leiter signed on to produce the series. The cast included Sean Dwyer as Stick and Charlie Talbert as Billy Bob, but the project was ultimately scrapped.

The ring name of professional wrestler Jon Moxley stems from mishearing the name of the film's protagonist, Jonathan Moxon, with both also going by the nickname "Mox". Moxley said in February 2020, "I'd probably been thinking about names for years and years, but I had no ideas. So, right before I'm about to go out [for my debut match] the ring announcer said, 'What's the name?' I didn't have one. This other wrestler guy was just like, 'It's like the Varsity Blues guy. He's like the guy from Varsity Blues. Jonathan Moxley.' They're like, 'That's cool.' I was too nervous to say yes or no. Actually, in the movie, it's Moxon. So the guy screwed up the name a little bit."

See also

  • List of American football films

References

<!--- Please do not proliferate external links unnecessarily or redundantly; please see WP:EL and talk for further guidance. These links last accessed on July 1, 2020. --->