Surprisingly buoyant and funny

Rating: Null/10 (20 April 1999)

It's the quintessential Adam Sandler picture--that's what we said about the last one, and that's what we'll say about the next one, too.
To paraphrase "Shakespeare in Love":
"Allow me to explain about the Adam Sandler movie enterprise. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster. The script is usually witless, Adam Sandler is a cut-rate physical comedian and mimic, and the critics tear us to pieces. So what do we do? Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well. How? I don't know. It's a mystery."
And so "The Waterboy" has more than a few good things going for it. It actually IS funny, all the performers are game, and we are, too. Kathy Bates can't NOT be charming, Fairuza Balk (say, anybody remember her as Dorothy in "Return to Oz"?) is funny in a small part as Bobby's love interest, and Henry Winkler must have been having a ball with his role as the inept coach. The director, Frank Coraci, shows a surprising aptitude when shooting the many football games in the movie: he trains the camera on the ball itself, which works well and keeps us informed. We didn't get a screenplay by Eugene O'Neill, or jokes from Preston Sturges (or, for that matter, the Farrely brothers), but it's good, dirty fun nonetheless.