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Year:   1998
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
Movie:  2/5
DVD:    2/5

Teaser

When Bobby Boucher (Adam Sandler) is fired from his position as waterboy at the University of Lousiana Football Program, he ends up lending his services to the sad-sack South Central Lousiana State University Football Team. Bobby shows a surprising aptitude at violence, which Coach Klein (Henry Winkler) quickly uses to help catapult his team from doormats to also-rans.

The only problems for Bobby are his overprotective mother (Kathy Bates) who not only forbids Bobby from playing "foosball" but also forbids him from seeing that "Devil Girl" Vicki Vallencourt (Fairuza Balk); his start and stop relationship to Vicki; his old coach and team who he will be playing against in the First Annual Bourbon Bowl; and of course his insane stupidity.


Movie

Take the football section of "Forest Gump", make the protagonist dumber, the villans silly and ridiculous, and add a lot of sophomoric jokes and you end up with "The Waterboy". Now, I'm not a fan of comedies and this one is not one of the better ones, hence why it was somewhat painful for me to watch this movie. And yet it did well at the box office, showing that there are lots of people who like these kinds of comedies.

Actors

Nobody really stood out in the acting department. Perhaps because the characters are all one-dimensional caricatures. Whereas Adam Sandler is not streching his acting horizons with this role, at least Kathy Bates gets to be in a more comedic role than her usual. Henry Winkler continues to play -- when he decides to be an actor in a movie -- roles which are far as away from The Fonz as he can find.

DVD

The movie is in letterbox format. A short promotional featurette and the theatrical trailer are also included. Overall the DVD extras add nothing to the overall value of the product.

Recommendations

Only see this movie if you like Adam Sandler comedies. Even then the other Adam Sandler comedy movies are better than "The Waterboy".
Copyright (c) 2003 Kevin C. Wong
Page Created: November 29, 2003 Page Last Updated: November 29, 2003