The Waterboy (1998) Reviews

• Revenge Of The Cajun Nerd

  ccthemovieman-12006-02-27

  I have to admit: this Adam Sandler no-brainer is hilarious, just had me laughing right from the start. I'd rank it in my top ten funny movies of my collection and it features one of my favorite characters in film: Bobby Boucher Jr., a heckuva lot nicer guy than Sandler's "Happy Gilmore." "Bobby" is about as innocent and a gentle-natured a guy as you'll find this side of Forrest Gump. You can't help but root for him, and that's the idea. What the film basically involves is another "Revenge Of The Nerds" theme except it's "nerd "- singular - as the picked-on waterboy turning the tables on the football jocks. Interesting to once again see Jerry Reed, whom I haven't seen much of since his days in "Smokey And The Bandit." He has much fatter face but everything else looked the same. Then there is Henry Winkler, "The Fonz" who now is the opposite: a guy with a terrible inferiority complex. All the characters in here are wildly exaggerated. This cartoon-like comedy may not be high-brow, but so what? It's not totally low- brow either, but I do wonder why modern filmmakers cannot seem to make a comedy without all the sex references and the profanity. Nonetheless, Sandler's Cajun accent, his strange-looking-but pretty girlfriend (Fairuza Balk) and crazy mother (Kathy Bates, in the funniest role she's ever played) are all great fun to watch. It's silly, particularly the ridiculous climactic football game, but then this movie is hardly to be taken seriously. It's all absurd humor, and 90 minutes was just right amount of time for it.

• Oh Come ON!! This was not meant to be high art..just great fun

  rdambroso2005-08-26

  All of the characters were well developed and entertaining. This movie never pretended to be anything more than it was..a fun, wacky comedy with a bizarre plot. Anyone who beats this up for being dumb should be taken out back and paddled. It is obvious THEY are too dumb to realize that this was DESIGNED to be dumb. Anyway..there are too many scenes that I STILL laugh at today, even though I have seen this 1/2 dozen times. So, if you are looking for the greatest film ever made on all levels..give this a pass..if you can relate to the humor, it's a wonderful hoot! I am not a die hard Adam Sandler fan, but I think he scored a 10 in this one for likability and laughs.

• Not as funny as I remember

  Smells_Like_Cheese2004-01-15

  The Waterboy is one of those movies that I really loved as a kid, I was 12 years old when this movie came out and I thought it was just the most hilarious movie I had ever seen. So growing up I re-watched it thinking that I would still enjoy the movie as much as I did when I was younger. But honestly I wasn't laughing as much as I did when I was 12, I think because it was for the most part it was just junior high humor. Is The Waterboy a funny movie? Yeah, I'm not going to lie, I still got a few good laughs out of it; it's just baffling to me that a grown man could make millions of dollars while making baby voices, that's the power of Adam Sandler. Bobby Boucher, a pretty stupid, stuttering, water boy with anger issues due to constant teasing and his mother's excessive sheltering. He was the water boy for the University of Louisiana Cougars or the past 18 years, but the players tormented him, and the team's head coach, Coach Red Beaulieu, fired him for disrupting his team's practices. He later goes to Coach Klein, coach of the Mud Dogs, and volunteers to work as the team's water boy for free after seeing the filthy water that the coach provides his players. During his first few hours of being waterboy for the Mud Dogs, one of the players spits into the water can. A flashback is then seen when the waterboy was a young kid working for the Cougars. Coach Beaulieu refuses the right for the waterboy to retaliate against one of his players for spitting in the cooler. Coach Klein notices his anger problem and encourages Bobby to stand up for himself instead of letting the players walk all over him. After Grenouille, the team's captain taunts him, Bobby then sees flashbacks of the people that also made his life a living hell. Bobby then effortlessly runs onto the field, grunting and growling in sheer anger and tackles Grenouille, shocking the whole team and prompting Coach Klein to put him on the field, with positive results. Despite his overprotective mother's disapproval, he secretly continues to play football, and also secretly goes to school. He uses his anger to tackle the opposing players by pretending they're the people who made fun of him throughout his life. He quickly becomes one of the most feared linebackers in college football and love interest of Vicki Vallencourt. While The Waterboy is stupid in a lot of moments, over all it's just a harmless comedy that is just for fun. I still love quoting certain lines to it, especially when Bobby attacks his college professor because his mama was insulted. Another reason I can't hate this movie is that this was the time that Adam Sandler was actually funny and we enjoyed seeing his movies. I think the reason why people just didn't respond as well to this movie as his other films was due to the fact that a lot of his movies are the same plot with a different character: Happy Gilmore or Billy Madison. The Wedding Singer was his first movie that was completely original and that's why it's so well loved. But I still would recommend seeing The Waterboy for a few good laughs, you have to love some of the fantasies that Bobby comes up with, such as "Water sucks, Gatorade tastes better", you'll have to see what I mean, but trust me, it's a good scene. 6/10

• Silly but satisfying

  Rumples1999-08-08

  This movie is a real no-brainer, but if that's what you're looking for then this baby is right up your alley. Adam Sandler specialises in this type of film, switch off the cerebellum and just revel in the stupidity. The Waterboy is not going to win any awards or even make its audience think, but it will inspire some laughs if you let it. As for it being similar to Happy Gilmour, you might as well say that it is identical to half of the movies produced in Hollywood - unlikely hero comes good, gets faced with a difficult challenge, overcomes it an wins the game in the last few minutes! Sheesh, what movie doesn't use this formula nowadays? In short, don't expect too much from the film and you won't be disappointed. My vote 6/10

• Another score for Sandler!

  mattymatt4ever2001-10-17

  It's Adam Sandler. Are we expecting a smart comedy, along the lines of Woody Allen and Albert Brooks? Of course not. But like all his comedies, it works. Some of the jokes are truly lame (not in a funny way), but most of them worked. Sandler helped pen the script, so naturally the humor is cheap and juvenile. But everyone, young and old, has a kid or teenager inside of them that is dying to break out. That explains the success of "There's Something About Mary." I'm sure a movie with such widespread success didn't reach only a young audience. When an old man dressed like Colonel Sanders gets hit in the head by a paperweight, call me immature, but I'm going to laugh out loud! Sandler does a great job at awakening the kid in all of us. It's truly evident that the kid in him is fully awakened. Honestly, I still prefer Sandler's "Billy Madison" (I will always love that movie!) and "Happy Gilmore," but this is a good one too. I never thought Fairuza Balk was hot, before checking out this film. Anyone who has seen "The Craft" knows damn well she looked horrible! And for good reason--she was playing a witch! Here, she looks hot, and walks around in a lot of skimpy outfits--MMMM! No matter how many times I watch this film, I can't help but crack up at Blake Clark as Farmer Fran. God, what an underrated talent! His main gag is you can't understand what the hell he's saying. Sure, it doesn't sound like much on paper--shows how the timing and execution of a joke can really work wonders. He also made a short appearance in "Joe Dirt," so look for him in that one as well. There are a good deal of notable gags: the Roy Orbison tattoo, Rob Schneider's "You can do it!" character, etc. I can't say this is a subtle comedy that you'll want to check out over and over again to search for jokes you may have missed. To tell the truth, I think the film gets more lame in further viewings. Which is why it's good to watch it once or twice. Don't wear it out, because this kind of comedy can wear out easily--like those supermarket brand AA batteries. "The Waterboy" is funny, mindless entertainment. I recommend watching it--just read a book afterwards...LOL. Critics have criticized Sandler for lowering viewers' comic standards. Sure, his gags may not be as intelligently crafted as those of the late Marx Brothers or Buster Keaton, but he knows how to make people laugh and I'm not going to fry him for that. Some don't find him funny--and if you don't, I understand. But I'm not going to view Sandler as comedy's Hitler. Believe me, I've seen much worse. My score: 7 (out of 10)