The Waterboy
Release year: 1998
My Rating: ★★★ out of 5
Tagline: You can mess with him. But don’t mess with his water.
Synopsis: Bobby Boucher is a water boy for a struggling college football team. The coach discovers Boucher’s hidden rage makes him a tackling machine whose bone-crushing power might vault his team into the playoffs.
So you'd think that if I didn't really like Billy Madison, I probably wouldn't like The Waterboy either. They are somewhat cut from the same cloth in terms of stupidity, but I don't know, I think there's something about this one that just tickles me. I was very skeptical at first. Toward the beginning of this movie, I 100% thought I was gonna hate it, but joke after joke just became silly enough to get a chuckle out of me.
I feel like The Waterboy does not get discussed in the same way as the Sandler "classics", but I feel like it more than earns its place with that title. I alluded to in my Billy Madison post that there is "another stupider movie I like more" and that is this movie.
Is The Waterboy a good movie. I'm gonna say probably not, but I think it knows what it is so much more than a lot of other movies of similar quality. You're not coming this movie to have thought provoking moments or see people give the performances of their lifetime. You’re here to see Adam Sandler and Kathy Bates with silly accents and lots of jokes to the extreme of Louisiana culture.
Once again we have another Adam Sandler rootable character which automatically makes me like it more. In terms of his character and performance, it's somewhat ambiguous if he has a mental disability or is just incredibly sheltered. I tend to lean on the side of him being incredibly sheltered is what make him the way he is just because they show us so much how harmful his mom, Kathy Bates, has been to his ability to make friends. But if you don't see that and just see Adam Sandler playing a harmful role of someone he shouldn't be, I understand. There's no right answer here, but I interpret his character in a way that doesn't make me feel uncomfortable. And for what it's worth, I think he does pretty well and is fun enough in the role.
Mama in a coma
Speaking of Kathy Bates, she's great in this. Honestly the highlight of the whole movie with how serious she takes her role while having so much fun at the same time. Additionally, Henry Winkler isn't an actor you'd expect to see in multiple Adam Sandler movies, but he's here, and I think he also does a really good job. They just made great choices in casting this movie.
Some of my favorite moments of the movie include how they play Devil Went Down to Georgia every time the scene begins at the Boucher house, and then when Kathy Bates is in a coma it plays a sad version of it. I also love all the jokes with the jumbotron throughout the final football game. This movie just loves to be silly. It's like they asked what the dumbest thing would be to happen at every given moment and then put that in the movie. And it ends up to it's benefit.
One thing I can not forgive this movie for though is bringing Rob Schnieder into the Adam Sandler universe. I'll have plenty of opportunity to talk about him later so I'll keep this limited since this isn't his worst appearance by any means. This guy I just feel is consistently unfunny, unlikable, and never adds to nearly any role he's in. He just feel's like a total sleazebag but not in a way that's charming. Not anymore for sure. Rob Schneider here does one thing, and that is give his "You can do it!" line that he has become associated with since this movie. And I guess this became a catchphrase for him because he still will pull it out to this day, and it is referenced in multiple other Sandler movies. I'm just gonna come out and say it, I don't get it. Like it was maybe a little funny in context of the movie, but was it that funny of a joke that it needs to be referenced over, and over, and over again? Unfortunately it's the only thing a lot of people remember from The Waterboy and that feels like a crime. What an injustice to be remembered only for Rob Schneider.
Schneider aside, this really snuck into my top 5 Sandler movies, which was such a surprise. We'll see if Sandler can keep up this hot streak (ignoring Bulletproof).
