This movie is a real no-brainer, but if that's what you're looking for then this baby is right up your alley. Adam Sandler specialises in this type of film, switch off the cerebellum and just revel in the stupidity. The Waterboy is not going to win any awards or even make its audience think, but it will inspire some laughs if you let it. As for it being similar to Happy Gilmour, you might as well say that it is identical to half of the movies produced in Hollywood - unlikely hero comes good, gets faced with a difficult challenge, overcomes it an wins the game in the last few minutes! Sheesh, what movie doesn't use this formula nowadays? In short, don't expect too much from the film and you won't be disappointed. My vote 6/10
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Rumples8 August 1999
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mattymatt4ever17 October 2001It'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) -
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.
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MovieAddict201628 August 2003Amusing 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 -
Smells_Like_Cheese15 January 2004The Waterboy is one of those movies that I really loved as a kid, I was 12 years old when this movie came out and I thought it was just the most hilarious movie I had ever seen. So growing up I re-watched it thinking that I would still enjoy the movie as much as I did when I was younger. But honestly I wasn't laughing as much as I did when I was 12, I think because it was for the most part it was just junior high humor. Is The Waterboy a funny movie? Yeah, I'm not going to lie, I still got a few good laughs out of it; it's just baffling to me that a grown man could make millions of dollars while making baby voices, that's the power of Adam Sandler.
Bobby Boucher, a pretty stupid, stuttering, water boy with anger issues due to constant teasing and his mother's excessive sheltering. He was the water boy for the University of Louisiana Cougars or the past 18 years, but the players tormented him, and the team's head coach, Coach Red Beaulieu, fired him for disrupting his team's practices. He later goes to Coach Klein, coach of the Mud Dogs, and volunteers to work as the team's water boy for free after seeing the filthy water that the coach provides his players. During his first few hours of being waterboy for the Mud Dogs, one of the players spits into the water can. A flashback is then seen when the waterboy was a young kid working for the Cougars. Coach Beaulieu refuses the right for the waterboy to retaliate against one of his players for spitting in the cooler. Coach Klein notices his anger problem and encourages Bobby to stand up for himself instead of letting the players walk all over him. After Grenouille, the team's captain taunts him, Bobby then sees flashbacks of the people that also made his life a living hell. Bobby then effortlessly runs onto the field, grunting and growling in sheer anger and tackles Grenouille, shocking the whole team and prompting Coach Klein to put him on the field, with positive results. Despite his overprotective mother's disapproval, he secretly continues to play football, and also secretly goes to school. He uses his anger to tackle the opposing players by pretending they're the people who made fun of him throughout his life. He quickly becomes one of the most feared linebackers in college football and love interest of Vicki Vallencourt.
While The Waterboy is stupid in a lot of moments, over all it's just a harmless comedy that is just for fun. I still love quoting certain lines to it, especially when Bobby attacks his college professor because his mama was insulted. Another reason I can't hate this movie is that this was the time that Adam Sandler was actually funny and we enjoyed seeing his movies. I think the reason why people just didn't respond as well to this movie as his other films was due to the fact that a lot of his movies are the same plot with a different character: Happy Gilmore or Billy Madison. The Wedding Singer was his first movie that was completely original and that's why it's so well loved. But I still would recommend seeing The Waterboy for a few good laughs, you have to love some of the fantasies that Bobby comes up with, such as "Water sucks, Gatorade tastes better", you'll have to see what I mean, but trust me, it's a good scene.
6/10 -
Quinoa198430 April 2000I 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+
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I do agree the story takes a long time to develop, the script at times is not great(too many dumb moments) and the pacing is uneven, but The Waterboy is actually somewhat endearing. And it has Adam Sandler in it, an actor I don't care for, but he was surprisingly amusing here. I do think though that Kathy Bates(ever the pro)as the Cajun mum and Henry Winkler as the bewildered coach gave much better performances. The film does look striking, with nice cinematography and scenery, and the soundtrack is nice. The sports sequences are lovingly done, and the direction is efficient enough. Overall, it isn't groundbreaking, but it is an endearing and amusing film. 7/10 Bethany Cox
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ccthemovieman-127 February 2006I 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. -
atinder28 December 2010This movie Bobby Boucher who is a 31 year old male, who still a water boy since he was a kid.
All the football players always seem to tease him and he also seem to have a way over the top protecting mothers, who calls everything and everyone the devil dose not seem help him, she dose not what him to go as she told Bobby that his father as died.
There a football training going and Bobby Boucher is doing his work, one of the players come over to him and spit in the water.
Then in that moment Bobby Boucher remembers all the people that Have been teasing or bulled him over the years and he final snaps and runs on to filed a knock out a player twice his size.
Then coach asks him to the join the team but he as to keep it secret of from his over protecting mother is played by Kath Bates.
I have seen this movie so many times now, I have lost count, I found this movie really funny, there were some really great jokes in this movie and there also a little big of drama in this movie.
Adam Sandlers was really good and funny in this movie but still not is best movie However Kathy Bates was very funny in this movie.
I going give this 7 out of 10 -
ABechtel21 June 1999Hey, I like dumb humor as much as the next guy. "Austin Powers"? Yeah, baby. "Something About Mary"? Sure. "Beavis and Butt-head"? Huh-huh, cool.
"The Waterboy"? No way. This comedy is dry and dull. This unfunny mess is a major step backward for Mr. Sandler. -
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.
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yas409 November 1998WHOA!! This is one of the most whacked up films I have seen in a long time. Again, Adam Sandler shows his comedic genius. As far as dramatic acting Sandler gets no awards, however for the movie he wrote he was the perfect mama's boy Bobby Boucher. Overall, this movie is a 10 simply because of how simply crazy it was!!
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howard-518 September 2002This was without a doubt one of the least funny "comedy" films I have ever seen. I sat though nearly an hour and a half of this drivel waiting for all the hilarious scenes mentioned in other reviews - I saw them, but just can't see why people thought they were so funny. It was by turn predictable, boring, badly acted,
irritating - and that was just Sandler (who is without a doubt the most over-rated and least talented "comedians" I've ever had to suffer through). Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against moronic or vulgar humour, but only if it is funny and this certainly isn't.
Why Sandler is so popular is a complete mystery to me, he can't act (unless
doing a bad voice impression of Eric Cartman from South Park counts as acting nowadays), he has no discernable writing ability or comic timing. If I could I would give this film a negative rating
The scariest thing about this film is that it is apparently better than Little Nicky which is hard to imagine. 0 out of 5 -
Creed101016 November 1998Although, most of the really funny stuff was shown on TV commercials for the film, this movie still entertained me. It made me laugh out loud which is pretty much my basis for a movie being funny. However, it was very predictable, but I wasn't expecting to be surprised so it didn't get in the way of the humor for me. The only huge negative aspect of the movie was Adam Sandler's constant "stupid" voice. It was funny for a while, but got on my nerves by the end of the movie. Overall, I would say wait to rent this movie with friends when you are in the mood to laugh.
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ad-1718 April 2000Okay, it's a silly movie, but you don't expect Shakespeare from Adam Sandler do you?
It's a boy meets girl, boy proves to be naive to the point of stupidity but prevails nonetheless, boy inadvertantly turns out to be a sports hero, type movie. Typical fare really.
On the negative side of things, Sandler's character actually grates at times and some of the slapstick is a little wearisome but the overall storyline isn't too bad though rather predictable.
On the positive side of things, some of the football scenes feature amazing tackles and action. And the performances of Henry Winkler and Fairuza Balk are excellent.
Predictable, a tad silly, but the Waterboy remains enjoyable. -
grantss5 April 2017Bobby 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. -
Peach-25 April 1999The Waterboy is just a plain silly and dumb movie. This movie made a lot of money, although I don't see how because it seems aimed at children. Now I know a lot of people liked this film, I had friends that told me it was the funniest Adam Sandler movie yet. I'm left wondering what they saw in this film at all. I love idiotic humor, this film just seemed childish to me. I can understand a kid liking it or maybe an adult if you could give me a good reason, but this film didn't make me laugh at all. Sorry if I make anyone upset but there are better movies to waste your time.
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MellowStello22 July 2019This has to be one of the most underrated films on IMDB. Absolutely hilarious.
Compared to the modern PC drivel being released today, this film is phenomenal.
In fact, I'd rather watch The Waterboy for the umpteenth time than ANY of the films released in the last 5-10 years... except maybe the John Wick series.
I don't think Adam Sandler has made a funnier production to date. This film deserves more than a 6.1 star rating... at least worthy of 8 stars. -
Obviously any Adam Sandler fan will love the Waterboy. I certainly did. No matter how many times Sandler knocked some guy out I still found myself laughing, and Rob Schneider's cameo was amusing too. And there's no way I can knock a movie which co-stars Henry Winkler. Overall, not as good as the classic 'Happy Gilmore', but an excellent movie all the same.
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bek-121 December 1998Geez, Adam Sandler can be really funny, but when he bombs, he really bombs. Waterboy wasn't funny at all, whereas Happy Gilmore was hilarious. Too bad. Adam better get his act in gear, because after The Wedding Singer (ugh) I had hoped to see him return to good form. Maybe next time...
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Steave5 December 1998A 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. -
kaihau12 November 1998It seems like whenever he plays a "nice" guy, the movie doesn't really work...he is at the funniest in Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison where he does something because he wants to and also treat other people rudely. In "The Waterboy" and also "The Wedding Singer," Sandler is just too "nice" therefore a lot of the humor is gone (only scenes involving cruelty were funny). Sadly, this sensitivity is what draws the females to see his movies...
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nutz4n6417 January 2000I'll go on record by saying that this is the first Adam Sandler movie I've ever seen. I went to it on my birthday (16) with my mom and three of my friends. There was a choice between this and seeing "There's Something About Mary" for my fourth time(their first). Well, they said that I should see something different. They (friends) came out laughing with huge smiles on their faces, saying how totally hilarious the movie was. I, on the other hand, was a bit puzzled as to what they were laughing so hard about. I laughed at some of the scenes, and the movie does come off as entertaining, but was it really that good? Some of the great scenes were when Sandler held up traffic with his riding mower and when his mother tackled his father at the end. It's good, but Sandler has had better movies than this.
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mystara7 November 1998Not drop-dead funny, but Sandler is as funny as typical. This movie is perfect for a footall or wrestling fan with both elements combined into the comedy. Several of the characters also make for funny additions and interactions. A strong comedy.