While watching Varsity Blues (1999), I was not expecting the main character, Jonathan “Mox” Moxon (James Van Der Beek), to ask himself a question I often pose to myself: why be good?  The question comes under different circumstances.  He is being tempted by the flesh while, for me, it pops into my head when wondering why people choose not to be good.  In other words, I treat it as a moral thought experiment, especially when I contemplate my Faith.  I wish everyone had a relationship with God, and I pray every day for those who feel they are far from Him.  All the same, for a film that deals with high school football in Texas, it also tackles (pun intended) some heavy issues worth pondering from any perspective.

The perspective Mox has on football at the beginning of Varsity Blues is that he would rather be doing anything else.  However, he lives in the small, rural Texas town of West Canaan, where the sport is a religion.  I am guessing that is why the filmmakers named their setting as they did, to emphasize that religious aspect.  Because of this devotion, like every other boy in the area, he is on the high school team coached by the legendary Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight).  Coach Kilmer has led the Coyotes to several state championships, and during today’s pep rally, he promises another.  Instead of staying to listen to his bombastic speech, Mox and his girlfriend, Julie “Jules” Harbor (Amy Smart), exit the auditorium to dream about their potential future when he gets into Brown University.  He just has to get through the last five games of the season as the backup quarterback to the star, Lance Harbor (Paul Walker), Jules’ brother.  Leading up to the night’s game, he is reminded a few times that he is one injury away from being in the game.  Each time, he protests the hypthetical, supporting his close friend in Lance.  While the two sides battle it out on the gridiron, he sits on the bench supposedly looking over the playbook.  Instead, he is reading a Kurt Vonnegut (not pictured) novel, which Coach Kilmer finds afterwards.  Coach is not pleased by this, telling Mox to never do this again and throwing the book away.  It is in the following game that the worst-case scenario happens.  Lance goes down with a knee injury, caused when the massive offensive lineman, Billy Bob (Ron Lester), collapses.  This latter instance is because of repeated blows to Billy Bob’s head, who should not be playing anymore.  Further, at the hospital, the doctor tells Lance’s parents that their son should also have not been on the field given the amount of previous damage done to his joint.  These things are happening because Coach Kilmer does not care about his players, only about winning.  This attitude is why Mox wants to go to an Ivy League school instead of pursuing football.  However, with him playing the most important position and winning, the attention dims his rivalry with his coach.  There are other temptations that come his way.  Lance’s girlfriend, Darcy Sears (Ali Larter), switches her affections from her hurt boyfriend to Mox.  She tempts Mox to come to her house while her parents are away, which is the scene referenced in the introduction.  Though she makes the choice difficult, ultimately, he makes the right decision in stopping matters before they get out of hand.  The next day at school she apologizes for her behavior, saying they will be friends and kissing him.  Jules sees the smooch and is understandably upset, even if she is not aware of the full situation.  He tries to apologize to her, but she points out that he has been changing since he took over at quarterback.  This is underscored when he is approached by Wendell Brown (Eliel Swinton).  Wendell notes how many yards he gets per game, but how few touchdowns he has scored.  As a result, he has not received any help from Coach Kilmer in getting scholarships at the big colleges and universities.  To Wendell, Mox is not recognizing Coach Kilmer’s evident racism.  Mox agrees, and calls together a few of the big players, as well as Lance . . . for an extremely inappropriate night on the town.  The fact that these eighteen-year-old kids are allowed into a strip club and given alcohol all but ruins any of the moral conundrums I appreciated.  They stay there into the next morning and arrive for their next game still hung over.  As a result, they lose, and Coach Kilmer is furious that they have ruined his perfect season.  The biggest target of his ire is Billy Bob, who is crying with shame.  Later that night, Billy Bob drops his pet pig off at Mox’s house, which is a warning sign.  Mox finds Billy Bob on the field blasting football trophies with a shotgun.  Mox comes away from this tête-à-tête determined to keep Coach Kilmer from winning another title with the last match.  Unfortunately, at practice the next day, Coach Kilmer informs Mox that if the young man does not run the called plays, the coach will do everything he can to stop his player from being able to go to Brown University.  Not sure what to do, Mox seeks out Jules, apologizing and telling her about his dilemma.  Her advice is to be the hero.  During the final match, Wendell gets hurt before halftime with the Coyotes losing by ten points.  While in the locker room, Mox sees Wendell about to take a pain killer injection in his knee, the same thing that had led to Lance’s injury.  Mox tells Wendell not to do it, calling out the coach for his cavalier attitude.  When Coach Kilmer threatens the scholarship, Mox says he would rather lose it than let Wendell make the wrong decision.  The rest of the players follow suit, and Coach Kilmer leaves the locker room without his team behind him, never to return.  Lance takes over the play calling, and the Coyotes go on to win on a trick play to Billy Bob.  We close with Jules and Mox kissing and him narrating what many of his teammates did in the future.

It is fitting to think about the future at the end of Varsity Blues.  There is a battle between Coach Kilmer and the parents versus the players as to what is more important: football or the rest of their lives.  To be fair, for some the sport is the gateway to the rest of their lives.  Though Lance is not able to go on to play for Florida State as planned, he becomes the permanent coach for West Canaan.  A similar thing could be said for Wendell, who accepts a football scholarship at Gramling.  What Coach Kilmer and the parents do not appear to understand is that there could be another choice.  This fits with my overall Catholic reaction to the film and how it treats the sport as a religion.  Then again, what makes Catholicism a healthier choice than football?  That is difficult to answer when you consider that there are Catholic colleges and universities that are more known for the gridiron than they are for the Faith.  I am willing to bet that there are many that do not know that Notre Dame is a Catholic school.  Should you ever find yourself on that campus, seek out the Marian grotto next to the lake, particularly at night.  It is beautiful.  I digress.  Actually, there is much that sports and Faith share.  Teamwork is as important on the field of play as it is in a parish community, and in the community, it is hoped that you give your best effort not necessarily for yourself, but for one another.  You can see this in the way Mox and his teammates treat each other.  The problem is that Coach Kilmer sees himself as God, which he very much is not.  God loves us beyond measure, and wants what is best for us.  Coach Kilmer wants what is best for him.  What is worse, he overlooks their worst behaviors off the field because he cares only about what happens during the game.  That is not a loving attitude, and there is some satisfaction in seeing him finally realizing it at the climactic moment.

Coach Kilmer being all but kicked out of the locker room during half time of the final game in Varsity Blues is one of a few satisfying moments.  As I mentioned in the synopsis, though, it is ruined by the completely unnecessary scene in the strip club.  There are some other inappropriate scenes I could do without.  They add up to me not recommending what is some otherwise promising material.