THE WATERBOY

Rating: Null/10 (11 November 2000)

I finally saw this film after hearing about how funny it was. Unfortunately, I had a hard time understanding what people found so incredibly funny. I mean, it's not a bad film. As a little comedy, it succeeds. But when it's hyped up as a "masterpiece", I guess it just can't live up to expectations. Generally, I think Adam Sandler is an ambitious comedian, if not an always-incredibly creative one. I found THE WATERBOY to be a blatant rip-off of Harold Lloyd's THE FRESHMAN. In fact, I understand that Lloyd is suing Sandler over the possible plagiarism of the story. At any rate, I think Sandler can be quite funny. I don't care for the loud yelling, but I think he does a good job playing the "young boy" character. Perhaps he should be given a screen vehicle worthy of him, in collaboration with a good comedy writer-director (Mel Brooks?) Until then, THE WATERBOY will remain his best film, I suppose.