Yes, it's foolish and campy, but that's exactly what it's supposed to be.

Rating: 7/10 (5 April 2002)

In Adam Sandler's tremendously successful 1998 comedy, The Waterboy, he plays the part of intellectually stunted Bobby Boucher. Bobby is a waterboy for various footballs teams, from whom he receives and seems to expect no respect whatsoever. This is obviously not the kind of movie that is meant to win any awards (what Sandler movie is?), but there is a definite place for movies like this. The character that Sandler creates is hideously annoying, but the comedy that comes from that is unmistakable. The laughs aren't very durable, but there are some good laughs that come from the lines that Boucher mumbles throughout the movie, and the situations are even better.
While it's true that The Waterboy is a thinly veiled version of the age-old structure of the underdog coming back and winning big, the film as a whole serves its purpose well, as long as you keep in mind what that purpose is. You watch a movie like this in order to get a few cheap laughs, and that's exactly what it gives you. It's well written because it was made to be exactly the kind of movie that it is, and it can't be criticized for that. Kathy Bates is wonderful as Bobby's horribly over-bearing mother, and Henry Winkler, who was The Fonz about 1,000 years ago, has stooped to a heart-breakingly low level as the pathetic coach of the pathetic football team that Boucher saves as the star tackler. The scene with Coach Klein (Winkler) talking to his grandmother about his problems on a disconnected phone while wearing a pair of high heels is a particularly sad thing to see the original Arthur Fonzarelli to have degenerated to.
On the other hand, the football scenes, which are clearly the emphasis of the film, are undeniably fun to watch. It's a classic underdog structure, but it's great to watch Bobby earnestly wish the opposing players the best of luck on the upcoming play, only to receive an offensive reply and then throw everyone else aside on his way to that player to deliver a massive tackle, even if it means sacrificing the play. We've already seen dozens of football movies, so we already know exactly how this is going to end, but luckily we have a lot of fun getting there. There is some shallow writing and an uninteresting romantic subplot (involving the simultaneously hideous yet strangely attractive Fairuza Balk) thrown into the film, as well as the obligatory happy ending, but as is generally the case with Sandler's movies, The Waterboy delivers what it is expected to deliver, as long as you don't expect something unreasonable from it. This was not meant to be a great film, and will be seriously considered that by virtually no one, but as a cheesy comedy with some genuinely amusing moments, The Waterboy is a huge success.