A waterboy for a college football team discovers he has a unique tackling ability and becomes a member of the team.A waterboy for a college football team discovers he has a unique tackling ability and becomes a member of the team.A waterboy for a college football team discovers he has a unique tackling ability and becomes a member of the team.
- Awards
- 6 wins & 6 nominations total
Lawrence Gilliard Jr.
- Derek Wallace
- (as Larry Gilliard Jr.)
Jennifer Taylor
- Rita
- (as Jennifer Bini Taylor)
James Bates Jr.
- West Mississippi Lineman
- (as James Bates)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
Adam Sandler's brand of humor may not be award winning,but it doesn't have to be.He creates another memorable character here,and surrounds himself with a good cast,including Henry Winkler,and Oscar winner Kathy Bates.You would be hard pressed to find a film about the sport of football that could be considered a great one,but the majority that I have seen are entertaining enough,and this one is no exception to that. If you are smart,you won't view this movie with an expectation of greatness,but if you want genuinely funny silliness,this is a film for you.It's a worthy edition to the comedy section of anyone's home library.
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.
"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.
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%.
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.
I really liked the Waterboy. It was crude, raw, and utterly funny. Adam Sandler gives his funniest yet since his 1995 cult hit Billy Madison. In this feel good movie, Sandler plays a dumb waterboy who gets on a football team and becomes a damn good tackler. Everything in this film is funny, from beginning to end. Henry Winkler has his best in years as a down on his luck coach and Kathy Bates is Dead Pan funny as mama. Great all around. A+
Did you know
- TriviaKathy Bates was convinced to take the role of Helen "Mama" Boucher by her niece, a longtime fan of Adam Sandler.
- GoofsLouisiana's local law enforcement is shown wearing uniforms that say "County Sheriff". Louisiana doesn't have counties; it has parishes.
- Quotes
Bobby Boucher: My Mama says that alligators are ornery because they got all them teeth and no toothbrush.
- Alternate versionsIn the theatrical version, the note Bobby gets early in the film reads "eat shit and kill yourself." For edited-for-TV versions the note reads "I hope you choke on your dandruff."
- SoundtracksBorn on the Bayou
Written by John Fogerty
Performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Courtesy of Fantasy Inc.
- How long is The Waterboy?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Waterboy
- Filming locations
- Stetson University - 421 N. Woodland Boulevard, DeLand, Florida, USA(Inside and outside shots)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $23,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $161,491,646
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $39,414,071
- Nov 8, 1998
- Gross worldwide
- $185,991,646
- Runtime
- 1h 30m(90 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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