THE AISLE SEAT - "VARSITY BLUES"
by Mike McGranaghan
Although I've never been a football fan, I respect the fact that many people are as enthralled with the game as I am with movies. That said, I've always had to shake my head at the real fanatics - the people who seem to stake so much of their own personal worth on how their favorite team performs. Loving and rooting for a team is normal, but I know people whose entire lives revolve around a team. Enjoyment is one thing; obsession is another. Varsity Blues deals with the obsessed. There's a really good movie to be made about this subject matter, but despite some interesting observations, this isn't it.
The story takes place in New Canaan, TX, a town where high school football is practically a religion. Everyone follows it, and the local team is much beloved. In fact, the parents of the star quarterback have a billboard of their son in the front yard. Jon Voight plays Bud Kilmer, the idolized coach who has delivered many championship teams over the years. Bud is an icon in town, a guy everyone defers to because he knows how to win at football and that's all that matters to anyone. The fact that he's an egocentric jerk who has abused generations of players is beside the point so long as he brings home the glory.
The central character, though, is Jonathan Moxon (James Van Der Beek of the TV show "Dawson's Creek"). He's a bench warmer who repeatedly suffers Kilmer's wrath. Although filled with talent, Mox (as he is called) refuses to make football his life. He wants to get an education at Brown University and continue dating his sweet-but-unpopular girlfriend. When the quarterback suffers a disabilitating injury (in the first of many, many sports cliches), Mox gets his chance to step up to the plate. Kilmer begins pushing him and the other players even harder than usual; there are only four games left in the season and another championship victory is in the cards. Meanwhile, Mox becomes tired of being the star player, tired of being seen as nothing but a jock, tired of being mistreated by the uncaring Kilmer. What he does changes the face of New Canaan football forever.
I think the set-up is in place for a good movie here. The moral dilemma Mox faces is a compelling one. Unfortunately, too much of Varsity Blues falls victim to silly cliches. In addition to the player with the injury, there's the steroid use, the scene in which all the characters go to a strip club and the fat guy jumps onstage with the girls, and the subplot about the head cheerleader who throws herself at whoever the quarterback is. For every good element in the picture (such as the depiction of how the town lets the players break the law without consequence), there's a predictable element that is out of place.
Another problem is that the director doesn't seem to realize the script is a satire. Subsequently, the movie is played as a Serious Drama when it should really have more of a freewheeling spirit. Here's an example: Mox's little brother is fascinated by religion, and every time he appears on screen, he is dressed in different religious garb (once as Jesus Christ on the cross, another time as a Muslim, etc.). Clearly, the screenwriter intended the character to mirror the town's obsession with football - the sport has become the local faith. But since the film plays it straight, the little brother seems like an extraneous and annoying contrivance. The director here is Brian Robbins (a former star of the TV show "Head of the Class"). He also directed the kiddie comedy Good Burger, which was not exactly good, but it had energy. Varsity Blues just seems to get stuck in a familiar, self-serious sports-movie rut.
Again, though, the central battle between Mox and Kilmer is well done. This part of the story should ring true for anyone who has ever wanted to be recognized as an individual, rather than as part of the system. James Van Der Beek is very good as the hero who doesn't want to be looked at solely for his playing skills. He knows that once you allow that to happen, you risk being chewed up and spit out. And Jon Voight is excellent as the coach. He's very unlikable, but in a realistic way (after one of Kilmer's particularly nasty tirades, a moviegoer in the back of the theater yelled, "Asshole!").
The bottom line is that I liked about half of this film and was bored by the other half. Varsity Blues had the chance to make a valid point about football fanaticism, but it makes the mistake of doing the exact thing Mox is trying not to do: following the same old rules without question.
(
out of four)
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