The Waterboy

A film review by Matt Lawrence - Copyright © 1998 Filmcritic.com

In the great tradition of football comedies as Necessary Roughness, Adam Sandler stars as Bobby Boucher in The Waterboy, a bumbling fool with a bad stutter. We first see Bobby as the team water boy for a championship college football team. He is tormented and ridiculed so badly, that the coach fires him because he distracts the players (they always want to beat him up). Bobby looks to the coach of the nearby team, with a losing streak of 41 games, to hire him, and he does out of pity. One day, Bobby can't take it anymore. He tackles a player and discovers that he has the ability to tackle the crap out of people.

Soon, he is on the team and they start winning. The premise of the movie is very predictable but that doesn't take away from the fact that it is a very funny movie. Sandler (who is doing his excited southerner voice, for those who are familiar with his CD's) is back to his roots. He took a more serious comedic turn in The Wedding Singer, and while it was funny, it's surprisingly refreshing to watch Sandler make a fool out of himself.

Warning to adults, you will not like this movie. This is strictly for Adam Sandler fans who have loved his idiot roles in Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore. Great supporting cameo by Rob Schneider (who looks like the Colombian coffee guy), and great performance by Kathy Bates, who plays Bobby's mother.

Rating

3.5 out of 5 Stars

  • Director: Frank Coraci
  • Producer: Adam Sandler, Robert Simonds, Jack Giarraputo
  • Screenwriter: Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler
  • Stars: Adam Sandler, Kathy Bates, Fairuza Balk, Jerry Reed, Henry Winkler
  • MPAA Rating: PG-13

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