Best movies like Varsity Blues
It takes a hero to know what's worth winning.
A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Varsity Blues Starring James Van Der Beek, Amy Smart, Jon Voight, Paul Walker, and more. If you liked Varsity Blues then you may also like: 23 Blast, Undefeated, Vision Quest, When the Game Stands Tall, Wildcats and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.
In small-town Texas, high school football is a religion, 17-year-old schoolboys carry the hopes of an entire community onto the gridiron every Friday night. When star quarterback Lance Harbor suffers an injury, the Coyotes are forced to regroup under the questionable leadership of John Moxon, a second-string quarterback with a slightly irreverent approach to the game.
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Undefeated
Set against the backdrop of a high school football season, Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin’s documentary UNDEFEATED is an intimate chronicle of three underprivileged student-athletes from inner-city Memphis and the volunteer coach trying to help them beat the odds on and off the field. For players and coaches alike, the season will be not only about winning games — it will be about how they grapple with the unforeseeable events that are part of football and part of life.
Vision Quest
After deciding he needs to do something meaningful with his life, high school wrestler Louden Swain sets out on a mission to drop weight and challenge the area's undefeated champion, which creates problems with his teammates and health. Matters are complicated further when Louden's father takes in an attractive female drifter who's on her way to San Francisco.
When the Game Stands Tall
A young coach turns a losing high school football program around to go undefeated for 12 consecutive seasons.
Necessary Roughness
When the Texas Southern Armadillos football team is disqualified for cheating and poor grades, the University is forced to pick from a team that actually goes to school. Will they even win a single game?
Number One
A former football hero cannot accept his career is over. He loses himself in alcohol and women.
Reckless
Rebellious footballer Johnny, falls for cheerleader Tracy. They come from opposite backgrounds; she's from a comfortable well off family, he is poor and broken. Tracy already has a boyfriend but he acts like a jerk, so Johnny has to win Tracy's heart - something she seems reluctant to let him do.
Johnny Be Good
It's recruiting time and despite being short and scrawny, Johnny Walker is America's hottest young football prospect. His dilemma: should he take one of the many offers from college talent scouts or should he attend the local state college with his girlfriend and give up his football career?
All the Right Moves
Sensitive study of a headstrong high school football star who dreams of getting out of his small Western Pennsylvania steel town with a football scholarship. His equally ambitious coach aims at a college position, resulting in a clash which could crush the player's dreams.
Bend It Like Beckham
Jess Bhamra, the daughter of a strict Indian couple in London, is not permitted to play organized soccer, even though she is 18. When Jess is playing for fun one day, her impressive skills are seen by Jules Paxton, who then convinces Jess to play for her semi-pro team. Jess uses elaborate excuses to hide her matches from her family while also dealing with her romantic feelings for her coach, Joe.
The Best of Times
A small-town loser determines to have one more shot at the big time by winning a football game.
The Big Green
In a depressed Texas town, British foreign exchange teacher Anna attempts to inject some life into her hopeless kids by introducing them to soccer. They're terrible at first, but Anna and her football-hero assistant whip them into shape. As they work overtime, the pair help kids build their self-esteem and also get involved in solving family squabbles.
Bring It On
The Toro cheerleading squad from Rancho Carne High School in San Diego has got spirit, spunk, sass and a killer routine that's sure to land them the national championship trophy for the sixth year in a row. But for newly-elected team captain Torrance, the Toros' road to total cheer glory takes a shady turn when she discovers that their perfectly-choreographed routines were in fact stolen.
Ice Princess
With the help of her coach, her mom, and the boy who drives the Zamboni machine, nothing can stop Casey from realizing her dream to be a champion figure skater.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Based on the real-life adventures chronicled by Cameron Crowe, Fast Times follows a group of high school students growing up in Southern California. Stacy Hamilton and Mark Ratner are looking for a love interest, and are helped along by their older classmates, Linda Barrett and Mike Damone, respectively. At the center of the film is Jeff Spicoli, a perpetually stoned surfer who faces-off with the resolute Mr. Hand—a man convinced that everyone is on dope.
The Girl Next Door
Exceptionally ambitious high schooler Matthew has aspirations for a career in politics when he falls in love with his gorgeous 19-year-old neighbor, Danielle. But Matthew's bright future is jeopardized when he finds Danielle was once a porn star. As Danielle's past catches up with her, Matthew's love for her forces him to re-evaluate his goals.
Friday Night Lights
A small, turbulent town in Texas obsesses over their high school football team to an unhealthy degree. When the star tailback, Boobie Miles, is seriously injured during the first game of the season, all hope is lost, and the town's dormant social problems begin to flare up. It is left to the inspiring abilities of new coach Gary Gaines to instill in the other team members -- and, by proxy, the town itself -- a sense of self-respect and honor.
The Last American Virgin
The friendship of a group of young friends struggling with teen sex, drugs, and work is jeopardized by a romantic interest which may turn pals into bitter rivals.
Leatherheads
A light hearted comedy about the beginnings of Professional American Football. When a decorated war hero and college all star is tempted into playing professional football. Everyone see the chance to make some big money, but when a reporter digs up some dirt on the war hero... everyone could lose out.
Dirty Deeds
According to a high school's lore, the "Dirty Deeds" are a daunting list of dares almost no student has ever completed. To win the student body's respect and get noticed by his crush, senior Zach is determined to finish the list in the allotted 24-hour time period. As the school's bullying jocks try to thwart him at every turn, Zach embarks on a wild journey, highlighted by beer swilling, grand theft auto and the snagging of an ex-homecoming queen's bra.
Easy A
Olive, an average high school student, sees her below-the-radar existence turn around overnight once she decides to use the school's gossip grapevine to advance her social standing. Now her classmates are turning against her and the school board is becoming concerned, including her favorite teacher and the distracted guidance counselor. With the support of her hilariously idiosyncratic parents and a little help from a long-time crush, Olive attempts to take on her notorious new identity and crush the rumor mill once and for all.
Everybody's All-American
Louisiana football star Gavin Grey had it all. He was an All-American champion who married his high-school sweetheart, homecoming queen Babs Rogers, and who was a hero to his hometown. Yet after a failed professional career, Gavin realizes that fame and success have passed him by and that he no longer is the hero everyone keeps reminding him he should still be. His dissatisfaction with his life leads to strains in his marriage, and Gavin begins to wonder who he is, if he's not a hero anymore.
Facing the Giants
A losing coach with an underdog football team faces their giants of fear and failure on and off the field to surprising results.
Any Given Sunday
A star quarterback gets knocked out of the game and an unknown third stringer is called in to replace him. The unknown gives a stunning performance and forces the ageing coach to reevaluate his game plans and life. A new co-owner/president adds to the pressure of winning. The new owner must prove herself in a male dominated world.
Blue Crush
Nothing gets between Anne Marie and her board. Living in a beach shack with three roommates, she is up before dawn every morning to conquer the waves and count the days until the Pipe Masters competition. Having transplanted herself to Hawaii with no one's blessing but her own, Anne Marie finds all she needs in the adrenaline-charged surf scene - until pro quarterback Matt Tollman comes along...
Little Giants
When Danny O'Shea's daughter is cut from the Peewee football team just for being a girl, he decides to form his own team, composed of other ragtag players who were also cut. Can his team really learn enough to beat the elite team, coached by his brother, a former pro player?
School Ties
When David Greene receives a football scholarship to a prestigious prep school in the 1950s, he feels pressure to hide the fact that he is Jewish from his classmates and teachers, fearing that they may be anti-Semitic. He quickly becomes the big man on campus thanks to his football skills, but when his Jewish background is discovered, his worst fears are realized and his friends turn on him with violent threats and public ridicule.
The Slaughter Rule
A young man finds solace with a young woman, his mother, and a high-school football coach who recruits him to quarterback a six-man team.
Catching Faith
From the outside, Alexa has the perfect life. Her son is the high school football star, daughter a straight A student and her husband is CFO of a booming start-up company. The sudden death ...
The Swinging Cheerleaders
In order to write an expose on how cheerleading demeans women, a reporter for a college newspaper infiltrates the cheerleading squad.
Gridiron Gang
Teenagers at a juvenile detention center, under the leadership of their counselor, gain self-esteem by playing football together.
One on One
Henry Steele is a basketball phenom at his small town high school, but when he matriculates to a big city university on a scholarship, soon realizes that he has few skills outside the sport. Expected by his coach to contribute significantly to the team, Henry is overwhelmed by the demands on his time, the "big business" aspect of college sports, and the fact that he never fully learned to read. Things look bleak for Henry when Janet Hays, a pretty graduate student, is assigned as Henry's tutor. Her intellect and strength lift Henry out of his doldrums just in time to battle the coach, who attempts to rescind Henry's scholarship.
Hoosiers
Failed college coach Norman Dale gets a chance at redemption when he is hired to coach a high school basketball team in a tiny Indiana town. After a teacher persuades star player Jimmy Chitwood to quit and focus on his long-neglected studies, Dale struggles to develop a winning team in the face of community criticism for his temper and his unconventional choice of assistant coach: Shooter, a notorious alcoholic.
The Pom Pom Girls
A football player at Rosedale High School is amorous of one of the cheerleaders, who is going with another guy. Another player can't decide which of two cheerleaders he wants to be with. Meanwhile, the Big Game with Hardin High School is approaching, and a prank war is in full swing.
The Program
Several players from different backgrounds try to cope with the pressures of playing football at a major university. Each deals with the pressure differently, some turn to drinking, others to drugs, and some to studying.
Stick It
Haley is a naturally gifted athlete but, with her social behavior, the teen seems intent on squandering her abilities. After a final brush with the law, a judge sentences her to an elite gymnastics academy run by a legendary, hard-nosed coach. Once there, Haley's rebellious attitude wins her both friends and enemies.
My All American
Freddie Steinmark, an underdog on the gridiron, faces the toughest challenge of his life after leading his team to a championship season.
Believe in Me
In a conservative small town, a young man's wish to coach high school basketball are tweaked by a school board decision that makes him the new coach of the girls' team.
America Brown
A coming-of-age drama that centers on a young quarterback from West Texas, a priest in New York, and the two women in their lives.
The Halfback of Notre Dame
A high school halfback must choose between the gridiron dreams of his football coach father, and his own dream of becoming a musician.
The Truth About Alex
Brad Stevens and Alex Prager are best friends. They are both popular high school students and key members of the football team. Brad is up for nomination to West Point, and Alex is a talented pianist who’s counting on his football skills to land him a university scholarship. But their lives are turned upside down when one day Alex admits that he is gay.
23 Blast
When a high school football star is suddenly stricken with irreversible total blindness, he must decide whether to live a safe handicapped life or bravely return to the life he once knew and the sport he still loves.