A back-up quarterback is chosen to lead a Texas football team to victory after the star quarterback is injured.A back-up quarterback is chosen to lead a Texas football team to victory after the star quarterback is injured.A back-up quarterback is chosen to lead a Texas football team to victory after the star quarterback is injured.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 5 nominations total
- Sam Moxon
- (as Thomas Duffy)
- Mo Moxon
- (as Jill Parker Jones)
- Murray
- (as James Harrell)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaPaul Walker broke his leg during filming.
- GoofsThe last game in the movie was for the district championship. After the game, as Mox recalls events, says he never played football again. Since they won the district championship game, they would have played further in the state playoffs the following week.
- Quotes
Charlie Tweeder: Will you listen to me? Bitches are all just panty droppers. You understand? That's it.
Mox: What?
Charlie Tweeder: Listen. You give 'em a Percocet, two Vicodin and a couple of beers, and the panties drop. It's very nice.
Mox: [laughing]
Charlie Tweeder: [emphatically] It's nice.
Mox: Tweeder, you think you'll enjoy prison?
Charlie Tweeder: [not paying attention] I don't know.
Charlie Tweeder: [looks into his jockstrap] The fuck is that?
- Alternate versionsA cut version rated PG was released in Singapore.
- ConnectionsEdited into Tough Guise: Violence, Media & the Crisis in Masculinity (1999)
James Van Der Beek stars as Jonathon Moxon (Mox), the backup quarterback of the high school football team. And he's happy with his situation. He gets to sit on the sidelines and read, hang out with the cool kids, and basically just wait until he can get out of this one horse town and head off to Brown University. But one day he sees the coach injecting pain killers into the knee of the starting quarterback. Then one of his best friends, Billy Bob, seems to have a concussion, but the coach makes him play. When the starting QB goes down, Mox is handed the team and is forced to decide whether to be the King of West Caanan, or to live his life the way he wants it to be lived.
I guess it wasn't a bad movie. The football scenes were done extremely well, and I generally liked the people I was supposed to like, and didn't like the people I wasn't supposed to like. But the movie lacked a certain focus. There were too many other things going on that didn't seem to have anything to do with the movie. The whole stripper/teacher thing didn't do anything but make me think back to my high school years and realize I didn't want to see any of those teachers naked. Then there was the black running back who claimed that the coach was a racist. He said that whenever they got near the goal line, the coach would always give the ball to a white guy so he could soak up the glory. While that may have been true, there was nothing in the movie to show that the coach was a racist. The only thing in the movie that said he was a racist was the black player saying he was. The whole race issue seemed to be thrown in there just for the sake of having it, rather than serving any purpose.
Some of the characters were too stereotypical. Mox's girlfriend for instance. As soon as Mox became the starting QB, his life started to change. In the town of West Caanan, starting QB was a position of popularity. But instead of letting Mox enjoy himself, even for a second, she started telling him he had changed. I figured that was going to happen, but don't you think a girlfriend would allow her boyfriend to enjoy his moment in the spotlight for just a few minutes before telling him he's not the man she fell in love with? Jon Voight's character was another one. I never played high school football, so maybe that's the way a coach is, but actually willing to ruin a kids life by making him play with a serious injury? And actually choking another player? I thought that his character went a little too far. It made him look extremely bad when that point had already been made.
My last rant has to do with the character of Darcy. She was the cheerleader who was dating the starting QB. As soon as he got injured, she started hitting on Mox. When she finally got him to come over to her house, he resisted her. Then she broke down and cried, and Mox solved all her problems in a few seconds. Much too quick a resolution for her. But I must say, I'll never look at whipped cream the same way again.
Overall I did enjoy Varsity Blues. It was fun to watch, even though it had a lot of script problems. The actors seemed to be having fun with their roles, and that made the movie better. So even though it had a lot of problems, overall it was enjoyable. And now, I'm off to find some whipped cream.
- chrisbrown6453
- Jun 18, 2002
- Permalink
- How long is Varsity Blues?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $16,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $52,894,169
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $15,204,148
- Jan 17, 1999
- Gross worldwide
- $54,294,169
- Runtime1 hour 46 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1