Surprisingly underrated

Rating: 10/10 (1 April 2000)

I think The Waterboy is seriously underrated. Some even say that it is not even as good or as funny as Happy Gilmore. I beg to differ. While I find Happy Gilmore rather pretentious and lacking in imagination in comedy, The Waterboy seems to offer it in abundance. I came out of the cinema with the muscles in my face hurting as a result of extensive laughing. And mind you, I was going through a bout of depression then, and my final exams was just around the corner!
Sandler is excellent as the Forrest-Gumpish Bobby Boucher, though far from being an Academy Award candidate, but hey, it is suppossed to be a comedy, and who cares about the quality of his acting. The movie does not try to be funny all the time, and manages to avoid cheap and unfunny slapsticks. You can feel the confidence of the scriptwriter of the strengths of its script. Henry Winkler and Kathy Bates gave good performances, and gives the cast the extra dimension that any comedy needs. The movie does not focus too much on the plight of Bobby Boucher, as is the case in Happy Gilmore, thus making the plot of The Waterboy more varied. All in all, The Waterboy provides fun without insulting your intelligence and sense of humour, and most importantly, entertainment. My pick for a video on a Friday night.