Adam Sandler's Charm

Rating: 8/10 (12 March 2020)

I'm rather surprised that this, one of my favourite movies from the 90s, hasn't been reviewed, at least by me, yet. I guess then that my hankering to actually watch it for some reason was a good thing since it might have simply slipped my mind and then I would have never got around to writing one. Mind you, I'm sure I would have eventually watched it again though because I did find it quite lovely, and that there are actually a few good laughs as well.
So, we have Adam Sandler playing this lad named Bobby Boucher. He happens to be the waterboy for a local college football team, but is eventually sacked because the team spends more time picking on him than they do actually playing the game (though they do happen to be pretty good nonetheless). So, Bobby goes off and finds himself another role at another team, this one a lot worse in that they haven't won a game for ages. Well, the teasing continues, but this time the coach (played by none other than Henry Winkler) suggests that Bobby stick up for himself, at which point he realises that Bobby's anger issues could be used to his advantage, on the football field that is.
Well, if you are familiar with other Adam Sandler movies then you are probably going to be familiar with this one. Yeah, that is the idea that pretty much every Adam Sandler movie in existence is about a man-boy who is forced to grow up. Then again the reason that I particularly liked this movie was that it wasn't necessarily about a guy that didn't want to grow up, but was forced to, but rather it was about this guy that lived a rather sheltered life because of his overtly domineering mother. In fact, there is a pretty good reason for that, especially since we learn that his father disappeared before he was born.
Which turned out to be a pretty good reason as to why he ended up becoming not just a waterboy, but a really obsessive waterboy. Namely he believed that his father died of thirst in the desert, and as such decided from a young age that he would do what he could to make sure that nobody else suffered the same fate, though ironically this ended up being on the football field than anyplace where it really counted. Still, the film probably wouldn't have worked all that well otherwise.
On the other hand, this is also another one of those common type movies where we have a struggling sports team that eventually turns their season around and makes the finals. In fact, they eventually make the grand final, or what is called the Bourbon Bowl (not doubt due to it being played in the Gulf States, or at least in Louisiana). As you can probably guess, they do eventually win the game, but such a film wouldn't work if it the result wasn't touch and go at the end, but rather a thrilling conclusion. Yeah, these type of films do generally pan out the same.
Still, I really do quite like this film, particularly Adam Sandler's character. Mind you, one could also describe it as being one of those films where we have a character who appears to not really be all that good at anything, but eventually we discover that he has a hidden talent that makes him really good at something and he eventually excels in a way that we, nor anybody else, realised. Of course, we also have the situation where he also eventually over comes all of the obstacles that are in his path to succeed as well. Sure, it may be like every Adam Sandler movie ever made, but there also seems to be this charm about this film that raises it above and beyond the rest.