Varsity Blues - 3 stars out of 10

Varsity Blues - 3 stars out of 10

While I like the fact that "Varsity Blues" questions the emphasis placed on sports in high school and the extent to which athletes are glorified by the community, I believe that this movie sends some poor messages.  It is sad to see this community turn a blind eye to the drinking of these high school athletes and even allow them to steal a police car without consequence in order to make sure that they are on the field Friday night.  I understand that they are making a point about the special treatment of these athletes, but it was a bit over the top that the police would allow these things to occur because of intimidation from the coach.  I love sports as much as (if not more than) the next guy, but this film really does a nice job of questioning our country's idolization of sports.  While I appreciated that idea, I did not like the message that high schoolers can do the aforementioned things (in addition to getting drunk at strip bars, disrespecting their parents, driving under the influence, etc.) and still succeed in the end.  It also sickened me that one of the characters is a teacher who moonlights as a stripper and, after bumping into her students at a show, has no worries because the boys promise not to tell.  What a poor reflection of educators, although that is more often the case in movies than not.  Jon Voight is an excellent villain as the coach who cares more about a state championship than the well-being of his students and Ali Larter is hotter than ever as the head cheerleader (who ends up having more depth than you would expect), but outside of that the acting is average at best.  "Varsity Blues" is an interesting film because I like one of the messages that it sends, but it's not worth it for the underage drinking, nudity, and crime that it portrays as being acceptable.