Varsity Blues

(Comedy-Drama)

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In choosing to focus on the excitement and excesses of high-school football culture in small-town Texas, screenwriter W. Peter Iliff lays claim to subject matter ripe with dramatic and comedic possibilities. At its extremely infrequent best, pic persuasively nails the details of life in a place where parents and other alumni savor vicarious thrills through the triumphs of young gridiron stars. In this overheated environment, a star quarterback might have his very own billboard on his front lawn, the local police will likely ignore the worst mischief of teen athletes -- and a winning coach can get away with an appalling amount of verbal and physical abuse.

Unfortunately, much of "Varsity Blues" is little more than standard-issue teen sex-comedy nonsense, complete with clueless parents, overbearing authority figures, beer-swilling ne'er-do-wells, jokes about vomit and flatulence -- and, of course, an abundance of young pliant females who appear topless, seminude or, in one case, strategically dabbed with whipped cream. (The closing credits acknowledge such notable characters as "Teen Babe #1" and "Cute Naked Girl.") There's also a sex-education teacher (Tonie Perensky) who moonlights as an exotic dancer at a strip club where -- surprise! -- she's viewed by her awestruck students.

Directed with uninspired vigor by Brian Robbins ("Good Burger"), "Varsity Blues" follows the character-building misadventures of Jonathan "Mox" Moxon (James Van Der Beek), a hunky but sensitive high school senior in West Canaan, Texas. Although he's the second-string quarterback for the West Canaan Coyotes, he doesn't take football very seriously -- to the annoyance of his image-conscious father (Thomas F. Duffy) and the hard-charging Coach Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight).

But when first-string quarterback Lance Harbor (Paul Walker) is felled by a season-ending injury, Mox must rise to the occasion and lead his team through its few final games. At first, he is amused by the abrupt elevation in status -- convenience-store clerks give him free beer, reporters pester him for soundbites, a billboard appears on his front lawn. But his girlfriend, Julie (Amy Smart) -- who just happens to be Lance's sister -- fears her sweet and sensitive guy is turning into a swaggering jock. Meanwhile, Lance's own girlfriend (Ali Larter) decides to hitch her wagon, among other things, to another rising star.

Van Der Beek gives a fine performance, allowing all the contradictions of his character to emerge. Mox is introduced as a bright and vaguely rebellious young man who presumably plays football only because everyone in town expects him to. When he gets a taste of glory, he understandably reconsiders his preconceptions about playing and winning. But the script calls for Mox to do some patently stupid things -- like bring his buddies to the aforementioned strip club on the night before a big game -- that seem totally out of character.

Julie self-righteously berates Mox for daring to enjoy his local-hero celebrity. (Smart tries hard, but her character comes across as a real pill.) But Mox insists that he's more concerned with winning a scholarship to Brown University than with racking up points on the playing field. In the melodramatic climax of "Varsity Blues," Mox lead a team rebellion against Coach Wilkins, an obsessive tyrant who thinks nothing of risking the long-term health of injured players. Once Wilkins is ejected from the locker room, however, Mox delivers a rah-rah speech in which he extols his comrades to "play like gods." The obvious message: You should reject a win-at-all-costs mentality, but only if you can still manage to win.

Through sheer force of acting skill, Voight conveys some semblance of complexity in and imparts a sense of authenticity to thinly written character, suggesting that Wilkins, too, feels tremendous pressure from the West Canaan community. Other supporting players of note, if not accomplishment, include Ron Lester as an enormously husky lineman who keeps a pet pig and swigs maple syrup from the bottle, and Scott Caan as a hellraising Coyote who steals a police car and fills it with naked sophomore girls.

Music supervisors G. Marq Roswell and Gary Calamar have assembled a solid soundtrack --including Collective Soul's ineffably haunting "Run" -- that should generate impressive CD sales. Lenser Charles Cohen makes the most of locations in and around Austin, Texas, while editor Ned Bastille enhances the uncommon verisimilitude of the football sequences. Other tech credits are pro.

Camera (Deluxe color), Charles Cohen; editor, Ned Bastille; music, Mark Isham; music supervisors, G. Marq Roswell, Gary Calamar; production designer, Jaymes Hinkle; costume designer, Wendy Chuck; art director, Keith Donnelly; set decorator, Tad Smalley; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS), Jennifer Murphy; assistant directors, George Fortmuller, Albert Shapiro; casting, Bob Krakower, Sarah Halley Finn. Reviewed at Loews Cineplex Spectrum 9 Theatre, Houston, Texas, Jan. 8, 1999. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 104 MIN.