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Varsity
Blues
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There are moments in Varsity Blues that transport one back to the riotous days of Animal House (1978) and other similarly spirited portrayals of American teenage life. Among the members of a high school football team, there is one guy who loves only booze, hooning and casual sex. There is another – grotesquely obese – who likes to throw up in spectacular, public fashion at parties. But in the centre of all this Dionysian clowning is Jonathan (James Van Der Beek). He is young and an aspiring sports star like his mates, but he is also sensitive. He dreams of leaving his small Texan hometown of West Canaan. He remains faithful to his girlfriend, Jules (Amy Smart), even when confronted by a "whipped cream bikini" brandished by the comely cheerleader, Darcy (Ali Larter). Jonathan even reads Kurt Vonnegut between bouts of bone-crunching action on the field. Rarely has a teen film had it both ways with such democratic finesse. Varsity Blues has nothing but respect and admiration for those blue-blooded jocks who consume their life in mindless, hedonistic activity. But, simply by making Jonathan the hero of the piece, it also passes muster as a thoughtful, soul-searching drama about personal betterment. In many respects, Varsity Blues is a familiar tread through the well-worn territory of the teen sports film. Director Brian Robbins (Good Burger, 1997) works hard to give this material style, energy and conviction. He is aided immeasurably by the presence of Jon Voight as Bud, a coach so bent on success that he will push his players beyond the pain threshold – with a little medical assistance. Sports movies constitute an underrated genre. Often they hinge on a dramatic dilemma which is quintessentially cinematic – what is the relation between the high-intensity instant of glorious play on the field, and rest of the player's life before and after such a sublime moment? Applying such a question to teenagers only doubles its urgency and poignancy. For Bud's terroristic claim to his boys before the big match that "what you do out there for the next 48 minutes will determine the next 48 years of your life", Jonathan substitutes a more modest but highly satisfying half-time credo: "Play the next twenty-four minutes of the game like they were the next twenty-four minutes of your life". That statement sums up the low-key, in-the-moment, teen wisdom of Varsity Blues. MORE Robbins: Hardball © Adrian Martin April 1999 |
