Unfunny cliched comedy

Rating: 1/10 (11 November 1998)

The trailers for 'The Waterboy' misled me into thinking it would be a slightly superior comedy. Now I know why. As is the usual formula with these type of movies, the only good joke was shown in the trailer. The mention of eating a snake's knee at dinner was hilarious but the rest of the film is boring, predictable and unfunny.
'The Waterboy' is the story of a retarded 31-year old man (Adam Sandler), completely dominated by his extremely eccentric cajun mother (Kathy Bates). His name is Bobby Boucher and he loves his job as a waterboy for a Louisiana college football team that constantly bully and make fun of him. When he gets fired by their nasty coach he volunteers for the job of waterboy with a totally inept team that haven't won a game in years. Their coach (Henry Winkler) is a little odd which gives us a few light laughs throughout. He's also had an ongoing feud of sorts for years with the nasty coach of the other team (yawn). The reason for the feud has left Henry Winkler's character with football coach impotency.
Although the new team also bully and make fun of Bobby, we know by now that 'The Waterboy' will follow the usual cliche and he will somehow turn the team's fortunes around. The new team discovers he's a brilliant tackler. Because of Bobby, the team reverses its losing streak and realises that bullying him is not a nice thing to do. In the meantime, he falls in love with a beautiful girl who's crazy about him, his mother becomes normal and the wimpy coach reclaims his manhood. What's more, every bit-character we've seen helps with whatever needs to be done in their own unique, quirky way.
Sandler plays his character with a very irritating lisp and sticks his jaw out to emphasize his retardedness. I was reminded of Billy Bob Thornton in 'Slingblade'. It seems Hollywood will never tire of reminding us that no matter how dumb we are; as long as we're kind, caring and honest we'll succeed in this life and make the world a better place to live. Nice idea but I'm sick of it.
I will say that there are a lot of excellent tackling scenes. I winced every time. See this movie if you absolutely adore Adam Sandler. Avoid it at all costs otherwise.