Candidates are Vanderbeek, Billy Bob, Bud Kilmer, Allie Larder or other; Vanderbeek is named immediately as surprisingly good on rewatch, charming, confident and talented; one host is relieved not to be out on a limb alone, and another agrees he was good after disliking the film on first viewing.
Imagine having to wear those wide-leg jeans and convince people you are an elite athlete, a point saved from what aged worst.

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Varsity Blues The Rewatchables February 3, 2018

Billy Bob's actor; James Van Der Beek (one yes, one no)

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 00:33:58Read transcript

Apex Mountain is explained as whether anyone's career peaked with the movie; one host says yes for James Van Der Beek, on Dawson's Creek, leading a football movie and winning Teen Choice and MTV Movie Awards, while another asks whether his second life as a meme counts as more impactful.
Thinks Dawson goes on for many more years and becomes a sensation for tweens, which is what he is still most associated with, so his apex is the later Dawson years. — Mallory Rubin
Scott Kahn (as transcribed) is a no, with Hawaii Five-0 and the Oceans movie; Ali Larder is a no, with the Final Destinations, fighting Beyonce and Heroes; Amy Smart was already covered; John Voight (as transcribed) is a no, having won an Oscar for Midnight Cowboy in 1969 and fathered Angelina Jolie, with the joke that Anaconda, alongside Ice Cube, is his apex.
Billy Bob, sadly, is a yes: this was his apex.
Paul Walker is a no, not even close; this paved the way for one of the host's favorite apexes, and he is so beautiful and pristine here that everyone would have guessed he would be the biggest star from the movie.

Varsity Blues The Rewatchables February 3, 2018

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 00:29:12Read transcript

The unintentional comedy award is announced only to be skipped, with the answer given in the same breath as Van Der Beek's Texas accent, which he probably had a dialect coach for.
A favorite unintentional comedy moment is Billy Bob asking Miss Davis to prom with his words so mushed together it comes out as 'will you prom me'.

Varsity Blues The Rewatchables February 3, 2018

James Van Der Beek's 'I don't want your life' scene

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 00:15:22Read transcript

A new category named for Mark Ruffalo dialing it up in Spotlight; there is said to be only one obvious nominee, the 'I don't want your life' scene, and the clip is played.
The Texas accents are very tough; Paul Walker's is super thick in his first scene telling Billy Bob he has a dream and by the end he is in Fast and the Furious.
Two hosts perform the father-son exchange, one as the dad and one as Dawson; the reading runs well past the promised two lines, with an admission of getting caught up and being unable to stop, and a quip about being the father of a starting quarterback.
A dad debate follows: he is called both a great, supportive dad and a terrible one; the billboard was built by boosters, whoever Buddy Garrity is for the Coyotes; the one mark against him is answering the free Brown acceptance with the Friday game plan, defended as what a dad saving $300,000 would do, since he knows your life in West Canaan is ruined if you play badly.
Mox's dad looks like Ed Werder of ESPN and Paul Walker's dad like Chris Cooper, as if the film could not afford the real ones; a second nomination for the overacting award is the scene of the dads making the boys throw the ball, deciding the best quarterback in Texas by a three-yard throw.

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