The Waterboy

Starring: Adam Sandler
Director: Frank Coraci
Genre: Comedy
Year: 1998
Rating: 4 / 5

Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy must be beginning to think that they have the Midas Touch. Everything that they have written so far has turned to gold, including their latest collaboration, The Waterboy. These two college roommates, who have teamed to write Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and The Wedding Singer, have again hit a homerun with The Waterboy, the latest in a string of box office hits involving Adam Sandler. This film, which has Sandler portraying a slow-witted waterboy-cum-football player, even propelled Sandler into the exclusive $20 million/film category.

Set in the Louisiana bayou, Bobby Boucher (Sandler) has been raised deep in the swamp for thirty-one years by his loving mother Helen (Kathy Bates). His only excursions to civilization come when he serves as a waterboy for the local college football powerhouse. Despised by the current coach and ridiculed by the players, Bobby is fired after almost twenty-five years of service. Desperate to continue bringing "high-quality H2O" to football players everywhere, he begs Coach Klein (Henry Winkler), a small-time football coach with a program going nowhere, to allow him to be the team's waterboy. As Bobby is willing to work for free, the coach agrees, and the good times are on.

At his new post, Bobby is ridiculed as much as before, but his new coach tells him to stand up for himself. Channeling all of his pent-up frustrations against an aggressive quarterback, Bobby unleashes a ferocity that Coach Klein has not seen in all his years. Klein suddenly realizes that Bobby can be a tremendous addition to the football team, but a few hurdles remain: 1) Bobby has no idea how to play the game, and 2) his mother thinks that "foozball," like most other things in life, "is the devil."

The Waterboy is exactly what audiences have come to expect from Sandler in terms of his trademark brand of comedy. In addition, it showcases more of the softer side that Sandler first delivered in The Wedding Singer, another duet with director Frank Coraci. Fairuza Balk is entertaining as Bobby Boucher's backwoods admirer Vicki Vallencourt, who has some enjoyable exchanges with Bobby's mother. Even with solid support from veterans Kathy Bates and Henry Winkler, this is still Sandler's show, and he proves once again that he can carry a big-time movie. The Waterboy shattered fall box office records, and proved what many of us have known for some time - everyone loves the underdog, and Sandler is one underdog whose future knows no bounds.

Cast:

Adam Sandler..........	Bobby Boucher
Kathy Bates..........	Helen Boucher
Henry Winkler..........	Coach Klein
Fairuza Balk..........	Vicki Vallencourt

Certification: Rated PG-13 for language.
Running Time: 89 minutes.

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