Really Funny Movie

Rating: 10/10 (9 March 2018)

The Waterboy is about an awkward, stuttering guy in his mid-thirties named Bobby Boucher who lives with his mom (Kathy Bates) in rural Louisiana. He works as a waterboy (hence the name) for a very successful college football team, and has since he was a young boy. Unfortunately, he's fired, so he takes his services to a much smaller team called the South Central Louisiana State Mud Dogs. On his first day, he is made fun of by a player, and the coach tells him to do something about it. Bobby tackles the guy, completely destroying him. The coach asks him to join the team, and Bobby accepts, but keeps it secret from his over-protective mom. Bobby leads the pathetic Mud Dogs to a great season, culminating in a berth to a bowl game against his former employer. A lot of stuff goes down, and long story short, Bobby shows up to the game at halftime and leads the Mud Dogs to a comeback victory. The entire movie is hilarious, and unless you've seen the movie before, the plot is actually a little unexpected. Boucher is played by Adam Sandler. I know, his movies lately have been pretty bad, but his old ones are good, especially this one. The humor in the movie is outrageous, including subtle nods to people who actually follow football, such as hall of fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor saying, "Don't smoke crack" to kids (Taylor famously wrote a book in which he admitted to using cocaine often). Sandler over-acts in his role as a mentally challenged person, but it's the over-acting that makes his character so funny. The roles of scouts and reporters are filled by actual scouts and reporters, like former players Dan Fouts and Lynn Swann. I've never actually been to Louisiana, so I don't know how people are there, but I imagine most of the characters are over-acted as well, especially Bobby's mom and most of the fans. The over-acting helps set the mood of the movie, however, so I think it's a welcome addition. Unlike most stupid comedies, the plot is not too stupid. Yes, it's kind of stupid, but it at least shows motive for all the characters, as well as establishing what makes each character unique. That's more than can be said about some other stupid movies. You can clearly understand why Bobby wants to play football, why the coach of SCLSU is scared and crazy, and why Bobby's mom is scared of him playing football.
When watching The Waterboy, you really shouldn't approach it looking for a sophisticated movie with high-class humor. If you watch it knowing that it's going to be stupid, which you should since it's an Adam Sandler movie, then you are always going to have a fun time watching it. However, if you approach it like a movie critic, thinking you can tell other people what makes a movie good, then you are going to leave disappointed. Some people need to open their minds and stop being so butthurt about movies like The Waterboy. Just enjoy the damn movie instead of trying to critique every part of it.
The Waterboy is a great movie that everybody should watch. His humor may not be enjoyable to everybody, but Sandler delivers a hilarious film with this one. It won 6 awards and was nominated for 6 more, and it never fails to make everybody laugh. Among the awards it was nominated for or won are MTV Best Comedic Performance for Sandler and Blockbuster Favorite Supporting Actress for Bates. Before watching The Waterboy, prepare for countless jokes and laughs, not amazing cinematography or great acting. The plot is surprisingly intriguing, and the viewer usually finds themselves rooting for Bobby to go out and win the Bourbon Bowl. The film does a great job of making an antagonist, Coach Red, that is extremely unlikable, so Bobby and his team becomes likable by contrast. The story of how the SCLSU Mud Dogs came together, bonded, and came back to win the Bourbon Bowl over the heavily favorited Louisiana Cougars is timeless. It has become a sports cult classic that is so popular that the social media accounts of sports media sites like ESPN and Bleacher Report acknowledge the anniversary of its release every year. Bobby Boucher will go down in history as one of the best fictional sports figures ever.