Tough Guise: Violence, Media & the Crisis in Masculinity

Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, and Brooke Langton in The Replacements (2000)

Cameron Diaz, Al Pacino, James Woods, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, and LL Cool J in Any Given Sunday (1999)

Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, and Corbin Bernsen in Major League (1989)

Matthew McConaughey in We Are Marshall (2006)

Seth Green, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Charlie Korsmo, Peter Facinelli, Lauren Ambrose, and Ethan Embry in Can't Hardly Wait (1998)

Denzel Washington in Remember the Titans (2000)

James Van Der Beek, Scott Caan, Ali Larter, Amy Smart, Ron Lester, Eliel Swinton, and Paul Walker in Varsity Blues (1999)

Playing football at West Canaan may have been the opportunity of your lifetime, but I don't want your life!

James Van Der Beek and Amy Smart in Varsity Blues (1999)

Jon Voight and James Van Der Beek in Varsity Blues (1999)

James Van Der Beek, Ali Larter, and Amy Smart in Varsity Blues (1999)

James Van Der Beek and Paul Walker in Varsity Blues (1999)

Jon Voight, James Van Der Beek, and Ron Lester in Varsity Blues (1999)

James Van Der Beek in Varsity Blues (1999)

James Van Der Beek

Jon Voight

Paul Walker

W. Peter Iliff

A back-up quarterback is chosen to lead a Texas football team to victory after the star quarterback is injured.

Brian Robbins

Varsity Blues

Varsity Blues tells the story of a high school in a small town in Texas, where football is king.

I&apos;m sure we&apos;ve all known of, or at least heard of places, where nothing is bigger than high school football. The starting quarterback runs the town, the coach is considered a God (as long as he&apos;s winning), and the parents all live vicariously through their children. And most of the time, the kids actually playing football love the game too. But in the small town of West Caanan, the kids are running rampant, and the coach (Jon Voight) doesn&apos;t care. 

James Van Der Beek stars as Jonathon Moxon (Mox), the backup quarterback of the high school football team. And he&apos;s happy with his situation. He gets to sit on the sidelines and read, hang out with the cool kids, and basically just wait until he can get out of this one horse town and head off to Brown University. But one day he sees the coach injecting pain killers into the knee of the starting quarterback. Then one of his best friends, Billy Bob, seems to have a concussion, but the coach makes him play. When the starting QB goes down, Mox is handed the team and is forced to decide whether to be the King of West Caanan, or to live his life the way he wants it to be lived. 

I guess it wasn&apos;t a bad movie. The football scenes were done extremely well, and I generally liked the people I was supposed to like, and didn&apos;t like the people I wasn&apos;t supposed to like. But the movie lacked a certain focus. There were too many other things going on that didn&apos;t seem to have anything to do with the movie. The whole stripper/teacher thing didn&apos;t do anything but make me think back to my high school years and realize I didn&apos;t want to see any of those teachers naked. Then there was the black running back who claimed that the coach was a racist. He said that whenever they got near the goal line, the coach would always give the ball to a white guy so he could soak up the glory. While that may have been true, there was nothing in the movie to show that the coach was a racist. The only thing in the movie that said he was a racist was the black player saying he was. The whole race issue seemed to be thrown in there just for the sake of having it, rather than serving any purpose. 

Some of the characters were too stereotypical. Mox&apos;s girlfriend for instance. As soon as Mox became the starting QB, his life started to change. In the town of West Caanan, starting QB was a position of popularity. But instead of letting Mox enjoy himself, even for a second, she started telling him he had changed. I figured that was going to happen, but don&apos;t you think a girlfriend would allow her boyfriend to enjoy his moment in the spotlight for just a few minutes before telling him he&apos;s not the man she fell in love with? Jon Voight&apos;s character was another one. I never played high school football, so maybe that&apos;s the way a coach is, but actually willing to ruin a kids life by making him play with a serious injury? And actually choking another player? I thought that his character went a little too far. It made him look extremely bad when that point had already been made.

My last rant has to do with the character of Darcy. She was the cheerleader who was dating the starting QB. As soon as he got injured, she started hitting on Mox. When she finally got him to come over to her house, he resisted her. Then she broke down and cried, and Mox solved all her problems in a few seconds. Much too quick a resolution for her. But I must say, I&apos;ll never look at whipped cream the same way again. 

Overall I did enjoy Varsity Blues. It was fun to watch, even though it had a lot of script problems. The actors seemed to be having fun with their roles, and that made the movie better. So even though it had a lot of problems, overall it was enjoyable. And now, I&apos;m off to find some whipped cream.

Home Video Trailer from Paramount Home Entertainment

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODgzMGZkNzgtNzhjZi00ZGQzLWI3ZGUtMmI0ZjgxZGFlOWNmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzU1NzE3NTg@._V1_.jpg

I'm sure we've all known of, or at least heard of places, where nothing is bigger than high school football. The starting quarterback runs the town, the coach is considered a God (as long as he's winning), and the parents all live vicariously through their children. And most of the time, the kids actually playing football love the game too. But in the small town of West Caanan, the kids are running rampant, and the coach (Jon Voight) doesn't care. 

James Van Der Beek stars as Jonathon Moxon (Mox), the backup quarterback of the high school football team. And he's happy with his situation. He gets to sit on the sidelines and read, hang out with the cool kids, and basically just wait until he can get out of this one horse town and head off to Brown University. But one day he sees the coach injecting pain killers into the knee of the starting quarterback. Then one of his best friends, Billy Bob, seems to have a concussion, but the coach makes him play. When the starting QB goes down, Mox is handed the team and is forced to decide whether to be the King of West Caanan, or to live his life the way he wants it to be lived. 

I guess it wasn't a bad movie. The football scenes were done extremely well, and I generally liked the people I was supposed to like, and didn't like the people I wasn't supposed to like. But the movie lacked a certain focus. There were too many other things going on that didn't seem to have anything to do with the movie. The whole stripper/teacher thing didn't do anything but make me think back to my high school years and realize I didn't want to see any of those teachers naked. Then there was the black running back who claimed that the coach was a racist. He said that whenever they got near the goal line, the coach would always give the ball to a white guy so he could soak up the glory. While that may have been true, there was nothing in the movie to show that the coach was a racist. The only thing in the movie that said he was a racist was the black player saying he was. The whole race issue seemed to be thrown in there just for the sake of having it, rather than serving any purpose. 

Some of the characters were too stereotypical. Mox's girlfriend for instance. As soon as Mox became the starting QB, his life started to change. In the town of West Caanan, starting QB was a position of popularity. But instead of letting Mox enjoy himself, even for a second, she started telling him he had changed. I figured that was going to happen, but don't you think a girlfriend would allow her boyfriend to enjoy his moment in the spotlight for just a few minutes before telling him he's not the man she fell in love with? Jon Voight's character was another one. I never played high school football, so maybe that's the way a coach is, but actually willing to ruin a kids life by making him play with a serious injury? And actually choking another player? I thought that his character went a little too far. It made him look extremely bad when that point had already been made.

My last rant has to do with the character of Darcy. She was the cheerleader who was dating the starting QB. As soon as he got injured, she started hitting on Mox. When she finally got him to come over to her house, he resisted her. Then she broke down and cried, and Mox solved all her problems in a few seconds. Much too quick a resolution for her. But I must say, I'll never look at whipped cream the same way again. 

Overall I did enjoy Varsity Blues. It was fun to watch, even though it had a lot of script problems. The actors seemed to be having fun with their roles, and that made the movie better. So even though it had a lot of problems, overall it was enjoyable. And now, I'm off to find some whipped cream.

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