Review of "The Waterboy"

Rating: 8/10 (16 May 2017)

"The Waterboy" is a film starring Adam Sandler. It's part of the string of comedies that Adam Sandler put out in the late 90's, and I enjoyed it a lot. It wasn't very unique from his other films around that time, but it was still worth watching, and I'd recommend it if you're looking for laughs. As far as artistic value goes this movie wasn't anything special. If you've seen "Billy Madison," "Happy Gilmore," or any of his other movies that were released around this time then you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect. The kind of plain filming does give a very distinct feeling of the 90's though, so maybe that was the whole feeling they were shooting for at the time. The popularity of this movie wasn't overwhelming by any means, but it was an improvement from the film "Billy Madison" that Adam Sandler had released only three years earlier. While "Billy Madison" didn't even make $30 Million in box office sales, "The Waterboy" made around $186 Million box office. I think this movie is attractive to anyone who just wants a good laugh. The entertainment doesn't really come from the time, but rather the characters. So it's never really outdated or boring, and it's always a good watch. The moral of this story to me is that you can do anything you set your mind to. Rather than letting people pick on you, and tell you what you can or can't do, if you try hard and commit then you can get it done. This movie approaches that idea a little differently from other films in that it plays Bobby up to be kind of dopey. And he finds what he wants to do by accident just from getting angry and not putting up with the bullying anymore. The conflicts in this movie are kind of just pushed through as the story goes on. He sticks with how he wants things, has a moment of doubt, then comes back around at the end and the resolution is found. The climax and resolution give the big win that you're always hoping Bobby will get, and that's pretty much the end of the film after that. All-in-all it was a good film with not too deep of a plot, but still enjoyable to watch. I'd recommend giving this movie a watch if you're bored one weekend and need a laugh.