Originally, somebody may have wanted the film to be a serious exploration of the dark side of high school sports, but it ended up as just one more sports picture.
60
Film.comTom Keogh
Film.comTom Keogh
It is an ostensibly serious story about being young and struggling to wrest control over one's life from the hands of fools, yet it doesn't behave like a serious drama that wants to lead us anywhere.
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
We are aware going in that Varsity Blues' cannot be a landmark of world cinema. Yet working within the tired formula, the picture turns out to be not so bad.
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A movie that doesn't buy into all the tenets of our national sports religion; the subtext is that winning isn't everything.
50
Film.comRobert Horton
Film.comRobert Horton
Eventually fizzles out badly.
40
VarietyJoe Leydon
VarietyJoe Leydon
An unappetizing mix of raucously vulgar comedy and teen-angst melodrama.
25
San Francisco Examiner
San Francisco Examiner
Half-comedy, half-coming-of-age movie with another half or so of sports film and maybe another quarter of soundtrack that adds up to 175 percent of a bad movie.