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Varsity Blues - DVD
Writer: W. Peter lliffDirector: Brian Robbins Producer: Tova Laiter, Brian Robbins, & Mike Tollin Studio: Paramount Features: Interactive Menus, Scene Selection, Theatrical Trailer, Widescreen 1.85:1 (Anamorphic), ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 [CC], ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Surround, FRENCH: Dolby Digital Surround Characters: (Voices) Jonathon Moxon - James Van Der Beek Bud Kilmer - Jon Voight Lance Harbor - Paul Walker Review: Varsity Blues is a football movie. If you don't like football, you won't like this movie. For me, football is very much a take it or leave it game. I enjoy watching it, but I don't go out of my way to do so (except the Grey Cup each year). The film tells the story of Jonathon Moxon, a reluctant would-be football star in a small, football-obsessed community. Moxon just happens to play for Coach Bud Kilmer, a hard-ass, long-time football coach who loves to win, and hates to lose. As I'm sure you've guessed by now, the story is very much the straight-ahead football movie it was marketed as. There are absolutely no twists or turns to the plot, and the movie drives along in an absolute straight line. Therein lies my problems with the film. First off, the characters are unmotivated. A one moment Moxon loves football, another moment he hates it, and at yet another moment he's apathetic toward it. Jon Voight's portrayal of Bud Kilmer looks like it was fun, but he goes way overboard, and the character is so underwritten and one dimensional that he comes across as more of an idiot than anything else. Every single adult in the film is portrayed as some back-water, toothless hick who cares about football above and beyond everything else (except for Moxon's implied alcoholic mother). Every single teenager is portrayed as a hard drinking sex fiend who is misunderstood by "the establishment". The film does have an interesting point to make in regards to what it means to win at all costs, but sadly the film manages to step on (and squash) its point during the final act. I'm absolutely not giving anything away to say that our hero's team wins in the end, and quite frankly there's a moment in the film where he (and his team) should've walked away. THAT would have been an interesting ending, and would have made the point that's screaming from between the lines. The DVD itself is typical Paramount fare. The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen, with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The picture quality is good, but not amazing, although I suspect the picture may be lacking because the cinematographer (like everyone else on this film) didn't put in much effort (where's the wet field and the cool spray during the many gratuitous slo-mo football sequences? Talk about missed opportunities for cheap and effective flash). The extras are non-existant. We get the trailer and...that's it. And the trailer isn't that good. Even more frustrating, the trailer has scenes not included in the movie, but there's nary a hide nor hair of deleted scenes on this disc. Just like the film, missed opportunities. Sigh...Paramount, when will you learn? I can't say Varsity Blues is a terrible film. It's not. It's mildly entertaining, and allows you to "zombie-fy" yourself for a few hours and not think. Unfortunately, I prefer to think, and when I'm not thinking, I prefer to laugh. Varsity Blues falls short of the end zone. Rent it if you absolutely must see it. Don't buy it unless you're one of the six people on the planet who consider this film a "must have". Ken Pierce Dvdken@home.com Contributing Editor, www.dvdfuture.com |
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