The Waterboy

Amusing but typical Adam Sandler vehicle about a water boy for a football team who has the amazing ability to get extremely mad and violent (picture Sandler as the Incredible Hulk). When a football coach (Henry Winkler, a.k.a. The Fonz) sees Sandler's amazing talent, he gets him on his football team...much to the dissaproval of his overcontrolling mother (Kathy Bates).

A lightweight comedy handled with playfulness. "The Waterboy" scores big points for laughs. If you want an hour and a half of fun, see this movie!

3.5/5 stars -

John Ulmer

Now I am a huge fan of Adam Sandlers dumb-ass films but I think that is why people have let him a have a career so long. They just love his dumb-ass movies. The movie centres around the local water boy who when the coach of the football team notices he can tackle hard when mad he puts him as the new quarterback of tackeler guy sorry I am Australian. The movie is good on many pointers as it shows that Adam Sandler can play 2 different types of dumb guys, nice dumb and guys and mean dumb guys. If you have not already seen this you should take some time to seat down and enjoy the movie. Overall this movie is a fun excuse to seat down and dumb out but I can see why people would not like this film. I rate this film 83%.

A lot of people are shocked at how dumb, unbelievable, and campy this movie is. Obviously they've lived in a cave and never seen an Adam Sandler movie before.

You don't watch Adam Sandler for a cerebral workout. You'll never see him starring opposite Anthony Hopkins or Merryl Streep. Okay, I realize his IS cast opposite Oscar-Winner Kathy Bates, but don't confuse me with details. This movie is just a bunch of jokes wrapped around a weak plot.

Still, the jokes are really funny. I don't usually laugh out loud at the movies, but I guffawed at many parts of this movie. If nothing else, it stimulates the Three Stooges area of the frontal lobe of your brain.

On the down side, Rob Schneider must be a good friend, because his role was obviously a last-minute toss in. Schneider is not funny in this movie and his "lines" are by far the campiest element of this movie.

Still, it was amazing how the crowd with which I saw it reacted to the football scenes in the movie. I looked around and everyone was anxious or cheering like they're best friend was playing in the Super Bowl. Also, this is the hardest I've seen an audience laugh since "There's Something About Mary".

In short, if you can accept the fact that the plot is completely unbelievable and just watch it for laughs, you will enjoy this movie. If you're looking for Oscar-winning drama, go elsewhere.

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)

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.