The Waterboy (1998)

The Age of Commercialism

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

"The Waterboy" is a film starring Adam Sandler. It's part of the string of comedies that Adam Sandler put out in the late 90's, and I enjoyed it a lot. It wasn't very unique from his other films around that time, but it was still worth watching, and I'd recommend it if you're looking for laughs. As far as artistic value goes this movie wasn't anything special. If you've seen "Billy Madison," "Happy Gilmore," or any of his other movies that were released around this time then you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect. The kind of plain filming does give a very distinct feeling of the 90's though, so maybe that was the whole feeling they were shooting for at the time. The popularity of this movie wasn't overwhelming by any means, but it was an improvement from the film "Billy Madison" that Adam Sandler had released only three years earlier. While "Billy Madison" didn't even make $30 Million in box office sales, "The Waterboy" made around $186 Million box office. I think this movie is attractive to anyone who just wants a good laugh. The entertainment doesn't really come from the time, but rather the characters. So it's never really outdated or boring, and it's always a good watch. The moral of this story to me is that you can do anything you set your mind to. Rather than letting people pick on you, and tell you what you can or can't do, if you try hard and commit then you can get it done. This movie approaches that idea a little differently from other films in that it plays Bobby up to be kind of dopey. And he finds what he wants to do by accident just from getting angry and not putting up with the bullying anymore. The conflicts in this movie are kind of just pushed through as the story goes on. He sticks with how he wants things, has a moment of doubt, then comes back around at the end and the resolution is found. The climax and resolution give the big win that you're always hoping Bobby will get, and that's pretty much the end of the film after that. All-in-all it was a good film with not too deep of a plot, but still enjoyable to watch. I'd recommend giving this movie a watch if you're bored one weekend and need a laugh.

Bobby Boucher is 31, lives at home with his mother and is the waterboy for the University of Louisiana Cougars. One day he is fired and ends up being the waterboy for a down-and-out college team, the South Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs. During an incident in training, Bobby demonstrates himself to be a ferocious tackler, and he is picked for the team's defense. Thanks to him, the Mud Dogs' fortunes soar. However, his mother doesn't approve of him playing football...Silly but entertaining. Started quite weakly, largely using Bobby's disabilities to score cheap laughs. The whole Louisiana inbred/hick thing was laid on pretty thick and got quite tiresome, quite quickly. However, as the movie progresses it gains momentum, shakes off the cheap laughs and becomes reasonably entertaining.Not that it doesn't still have its silly moments towards the end, but these become few and further between.Overall: not a must-see, but if you're looking for something mindlessly entertaining, this isn't so bad.

The Waterboy is one of Adam Sandler's more well known and successful comedy films of the 90's (It was his biggest films up until 2010). This film is mainly directed to his teenage fanbase and in this case, there are several issues and just moronic errors about it. We all understand this film is a comedy but it is far too unrealistic and comes off as just irritating and annoying. Comparing the Waterboy to Happy Gilmore (a much better film) we see him beat up Bob Barker. In The Waterboy, he plays a lisp-speaking, clumsy, little mama's boy whose life has no direction, no purpose, and, apparently, no human intelligence. After he is hired to be the water boy for a crumbling Louisiana football team, a few of the 'star' players enjoy insulting him every chance they get. When he's at the point where he just can't take it anymore, he exclaims 'stop making fun of me,' and head-butts them, sort of like a tackle. What is unrealistic about this is that all it takes for Bobby to make the team and be their star player is one tackle. There are a few chuckles in the movie but after a while we tend to realize how silly overall the film is.Just like it every Sandler comedy, the end product is quite predictable. We ends up succeeding while being the underdog and ends with the love interest. Sandler himself can be funny, but tackling football players because they make fun of him is no amusing. It gets old fast. His mama was funny at first but they kept the gag overdoing itself where he stopped being anything. The Waterboy has not aged well over the years either.

Arguably the last of Adam Sandler's string of truly funny character comedies. It's dumb in an earnest and appealing way, with Sandler in his element as the dense, innocent hayseed with tons of peculiar charisma and an aggressively violent streak. He's undeniably the centerpiece of this story, but also isn't afraid to share the screen with the other denizens of this obtuse little world he's populated - a necessity, since a crippling stutter leaves him unable to complete more than a few sentences at a time. Kathy Bates and Henry Winkler unleash their wickedly funny hidden talents in supporting roles as Sandler's sanctimonious, over-protective mother and cowardly savant football coach, respectively. Though the SNL alum would later dip into the well too often, at this point his backup squad of one-note bit characters and bizarre non sequiturs still felt fresh and genuine. Loaded with buried gems and unexpectedly brilliant one-liners, it left me grinning and wiping tears from my eyes in several spots. Much funnier than the absurdly simple concept would lead you to believe.