The Waterboy

Plot synopsis:
Bobby Boucher (Adam Sandler) is a socially inept, 31-year-old water boy with a stutter and hidden anger issues due to frequent teasing by his peers and excessive sheltering by his mother, Helen (Kathy Bates). As a teenager, Bobby became the water boy for the (fictional) University of Louisiana Cougars, a major championship-caliber college program, after being told his father died of dehydration in the Sahara while serving in the Peace Corps. However, the players always torment him and the team's head coach, Red Beaulieu (Jerry Reed), eventually fires him after 18 years of employment, citing the false claim he is "disruptive", when in actuality the bullying had come to the attention of school authorities and Coach Beaulieu tried to distance the team from it. After a few failed attempts to find work, Bobby then approaches Coach Klein (Henry Winkler) of the far more austere (fictional) South Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs and asks to work as the team's water boy. Coach Klein has been coach of SCLSU for years without success. It is revealed later in the movie that he and Beaulieu were assistant coaches at the University of Louisiana 20 years prior, but Beaulieu bullied Klein into letting him take sole credit for a playbook (that Klein actually came up with on his own) to earn the head coach job and then immediately fired Klein. The experience drove Klein to a mental breakdown and rendered him unable to come up with new plays. Furthermore, unlike the Cougars, the Mud Dogs are a struggling team both on and off the field. They have lost 40 consecutive games, their cheerleaders have become chronic alcoholics, and players are forced to share equipment due to budget cuts. Bobby insists he be the waterboy after noticing a keg full of stagnant water and warns the keg needs to be refilled daily with fresh water. Bobby gets the job when he says he will do it for free.
Bobby's mother informs him of the evils of football (which she refers to as "foosball") and prevents him from playing. She also mentions that unlike everyone else who shows contempt for him, Helen is the only one who unconditionally loves him. After being picked on again by his new team, Coach Klein encourages Bobby to stand up for himself which leads to him tackling and knocking out the team's quarterback. Coach Klein begs Bobby to join the team but he refuses as his mother would never approve. Coach Klein then meets with Bobby and his mother and attempts to convince her to let Bobby play by emphasizing that Bobby can get a college education. But she refuses despite Bobby's interest. Coach Klein convinces Bobby to join in secret (from his mother) saying that "what mama don't know, won't hurt her". Bobby quickly becomes one of the most feared linebackers in college football, hitting opposing players with injury-causing force. In his first game, Bobby causes a turnover that costs the team the win, angering them to the point that they completely overlook Bobby scoring an NCAA record of 16 sacks in the game. Despite this, the Mud Dogs win their next game when Bobby scores a safety on the final play, ending their long losing streak. The Mud Dogs go on a winning streak and earn a trip to the annual Bourbon Bowl to face the Cougars and Coach Beaulieu. Bobby's newfound fame also allows him to rekindle a relationship with his childhood friend and crush, Vicki Vallencourt (Fairuza Balk), who has been in prison multiple times. However, Helen forbids Bobby from seeing her again (telling him that girls are "the devil").
Coach Beaulieu crashes the Mud Dogs' pep rally and reveals that Bobby never finished high school and his high school transcript was fake (as the school doesn't even exist and Bobby was homeschooled by his mother), making him ineligible for college and football. The team and fans label him a "cheater" and snub him. The next day, Klein pulls some strings and the NCAA agrees to let Bobby compete in the Bourbon bowl if he can pass a GED exam. Bobby is reluctant as he feels he has become public enemy number one of the town and is angered over the fact that someone set him up. At that point Klein apologizes and admits he submitted the fake transcript because he was desperate to get even with Beaulieu. Klein tells Bobby about his past with Beaulieu, and the story convinces Bobby to take the exam to help Klein get revenge on Beaulieu and prove to everyone he's not a "dummy". While studying, Bobby inadvertently reveals to his mother that he's been playing football, going to college and seeing Vicki. This leads to them having a fight with Bobby lashing out over his mother's constant sheltering of him, saying he'll continue to defy her because he enjoys school and football and Vicki showing him her breasts. Bobby easily passes the exam, scoring a 97%, but his mother then fakes falling ill to keep Bobby from playing. Bobby refuses to ever play football again, feeling he drove his mother to illness, and stays in the hospital with his mother. Meanwhile, Vicki spreads word around the community of Bobby passing the exam. This leads to a gathering of fans at the hospital who apologize for not supporting him and try to convince him to play. Bobby however, refuses and Helen ends her fake illness after seeing the error of her ways. The next day, Helen tells Bobby the truth about his father, Robert Sr., and why she was faking her illness. Years ago through the letters she had, Bobby learns that his father found work in New Orleans, changed his name to Roberto and abandoned a pregnant Helen for a voodoo priestess. This in turn led Helen to excessively shelter Bobby all his life, afraid he would abandon her like Roberto did and forced Bobby to abandon the community who depends on him. Helen realizes the best thing for her to do is let him go since he has made a lot of friends and encourages him to play in the Bourbon Bowl because it means so much to him and the community.
Arriving at halftime of the Bourbon Bowl with Helen and Vicki, Bobby finds the team is losing 27-0 and has all but given up. Bobby manages to encourage the losing Mud Dogs to make a comeback. The team apologizes for not treating him with the respect he deserves and admit that he has become the heart and soul of the team. With Bobby's help, Coach Klein overcomes his fear of Red Beaulieu and visualizing him as someone or something he isn't afraid of (a reverse of the advice he gave Bobby to visualize a previous foe and attack), which helps him create new plays that allow the Mud Dogs to catch up. This doesn't settle in well with Red, realizing that the previous playbook he had stolen credit from Klein has backfired on him and begins to show desperation (such as resorting to the quarterback kneel to neutralize Bobby and run out the clock) to save his perfect season. Helen helps the cheerleaders out by making coffee and it helps sober them up as they cheer their fans on to rally and renounces her previous hatred of football, while Vicki is seen giving out water to the Mud Dogs (filling in for Bobby's usual waterboy duties) She is interviewed by Lynn Swann and predicts the Mud Dogs will win 30-27. On the next to last play, after recovering a kick-off, Greg Meaney (an enemy of Bobby's from his time with the Cougars) lands an illegal hit on Bobby and knocks him out, which leads to his ejection much to Red's detest. Vicki revives him however with a bottle of special water (which always stays cold) he had previously given her as a gift. During the final play, a halfback option, Bobby throws a touchdown pass and the Mud Dogs win the Bourbon Bowl by a score of 30-27 (just as Vicki predicted), leaving Red embarrassed that his perfect season for the Cougars is gone. Bobby is named the MVP.
Later, Bobby and Vicki get married and are heading to the riding lawn mower. On their way out, Bobby's father (Frank Coraci in a cameo role) makes an unexpected appearance, telling him that he heard from ESPN that he may go to the NFL. Bobby tells him that he is not going to the NFL because he wants to stay in school and graduate. Roberto angrily tries to get him to skip school and go to the NFL, hoping to personally profit as the father of an NFL player (citing the success Tiger Woods and his father have had). He is quickly tackled to the ground by an enraged Helen for this (and out of revenge against Roberto for leaving her years ago), much to the cheers of the crowd. Bobby and Vicki leave to consummate their marriage.

Tags: humor, cult, comedy, entertaining, stupid

Review:
I'd rank it in my top ten funny movies of my collection and it features one of my favorite characters in film: Bobby Boucher Jr., a heckuva lot nicer guy than Sandler's "Happy Gilmore." "Bobby" is about as innocent and a gentle-natured a guy as you'll find this side of Forrest Gump.
Nonetheless, Sandler's Cajun accent, his strange-looking-but pretty girlfriend (Fairuza Balk) and crazy mother (Kathy Bates, in the funniest role she's ever played) are all great fun to watch.It's silly, particularly the ridiculous climactic football game, but then this movie is hardly to be taken seriously.
Also, this is the hardest I've seen an audience laugh since "There's Something About Mary".In short, if you can accept the fact that the plot is completely unbelievable and just watch it for laughs, you will enjoy this movie.
Honestly, I still prefer Sandler's "Billy Madison" (I will always love that movie!) and "Happy Gilmore," but this is a good one too.
Adam Sandler's brand of humor may not be award winning,but it doesn't have to be.He creates another memorable character here,and surrounds himself with a good cast,including Henry Winkler,and Oscar winner Kathy Bates.You would be hard pressed to find a film about the sport of football that could be considered a great one,but the majority that I have seen are entertaining enough,and this one is no exception to that.
If you are smart,you won't view this movie with an expectation of greatness,but if you want genuinely funny silliness,this is a film for you.It's a worthy edition to the comedy section of anyone's home library..
In this feel good movie, Sandler plays a dumb waterboy who gets on a football team and becomes a damn good tackler.
When a football coach (Henry Winkler, a.k.a. The Fonz) sees Sandler's amazing talent, he gets him on his football team...much to the dissaproval of his overcontrolling mother (Kathy Bates).
The Waterboy is one of Adam Sandlers best comedy films..
Now I am a huge fan of Adam Sandlers dumb-ass films but I think that is why people have let him a have a career so long.
The movie centres around the local water boy who when the coach of the football team notices he can tackle hard when mad he puts him as the new quarterback of tackeler guy sorry I am Australian.
The movie is good on many pointers as it shows that Adam Sandler can play 2 different types of dumb guys, nice dumb and guys and mean dumb guys.
Overall this movie is a fun excuse to seat down and dumb out but I can see why people would not like this film.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against moronic or vulgar humour, but only if it is funny and this certainly isn't.Why Sandler is so popular is a complete mystery to me, he can't act (unlessdoing a bad voice impression of Eric Cartman from South Park counts as acting nowadays), he has no discernable writing ability or comic timing.
"The Waterboy" is the 2nd worst movie of the year, after the extremely atrocious  "I Got The Hookup."  There is nothing worse than an unfunny comedy.
This movie Bobby Boucher who is a 31 year old male, who still a water boy since he was a kid.All the football players always seem to tease him and he also seem to have a way over the top protecting mothers, who calls everything and everyone the devil dose not seem help him, she dose not what him to go as she told Bobby that his father as died.There a football training going and Bobby Boucher is doing his work, one of the players come over to him and spit in the water.Then in that moment Bobby Boucher remembers all the people that Have been teasing or bulled him over the years and he final snaps and runs on to filed a knock out a player twice his size.Then coach asks him to the join the team but he as to keep it secret of from his over protecting mother is played by Kath Bates.
I have seen this movie so many times now, I have lost count, I found this movie really funny, there were some really great jokes in this movie and there also a little big of drama in this movie.Adam Sandlers was really good and funny in this movie but still not is best movie However Kathy Bates was very funny in this movie.I going give this 7 out of 10.
I m surely not one of those intellectuals always looking for artistic elements in cinema, I CAN laugh watching the "Naked Gun"-nonsense, yes even "Dumb and Dumber" I thought of as being funny, but "The Waterboy" was too much for me!
Now I am not a fan of Adam Sandler but don't get me wrong, even I have laughed to his films.
I don't know what other people think but when I see Adam Sandler sticking out his chin and talking like a retard, I don't exactly burst into laugh.
Simpleton Bobby Boucher is the water boy for a college football team, until he gets fired for like the umpteenth time.
The secret is by getting Bobby thinking he's being made fun of, thus the formula works and Bobby becomes the team star player, but that brings about its own drawbacks.Speaking as someone who happily indulges in the odd bit of Adam Sandler nonsense, i have to say that this picture, alongside the god awful Little Nicky, is easily one of his worst efforts.
I like Adam Sandler, and I loved The Wedding Singer, but i can't be bothered with this movie.
Adam Sandler plays Bobby Boucher, a longtime waterboy for the local college football team.
It had its quirky 90's humor that gave me a good chuckle, and the football competition of the movie was generally entertaining, but it more focused on character development, which was entertaining to watch..
In Adam Sandler's tremendously successful 1998 comedy, The Waterboy, he plays the part of intellectually stunted Bobby Boucher.
The laughs aren't very durable, but there are some good laughs that come from the lines that Boucher mumbles throughout the movie, and the situations are even better.While it's true that The Waterboy is a thinly veiled version of the age-old structure of the underdog coming back and winning big, the film as a whole serves its purpose well, as long as you keep in mind what that purpose is.
Kathy Bates is wonderful as Bobby's horribly over-bearing mother, and Henry Winkler, who was The Fonz about 1,000 years ago, has stooped to a heart-breakingly low level as the pathetic coach of the pathetic football team that Boucher saves as the star tackler.
We've already seen dozens of football movies, so we already know exactly how this is going to end, but luckily we have a lot of fun getting there.
There is some shallow writing and an uninteresting romantic subplot (involving the simultaneously hideous yet strangely attractive Fairuza Balk) thrown into the film, as well as the obligatory happy ending, but as is generally the case with Sandler's movies, The Waterboy delivers what it is expected to deliver, as long as you don't expect something unreasonable from it.
This movie was a good part for Adam Sandler.
True, the jokes tended to misfire a bit, and you'll be annoyed with the way Sandler talks during the movie (You'll understand what I mean if you've seen this), but I liked it.
The movie is just for laughs, there's no Oscar winning performances nor is it any "movie stand-out", just a normal, fun basic Adam Sandler movie with the funny characters and quotable dialog..
This was one of the worst movies this year, Adam Sandler is usually so much more funnier than this!
The only funny thing of this movie was his mama played by Kathy Bates, she was good in it.
Adam Sandler, the crazy but funny ex-SNL member, stars in his latest movie, The Waterboy.
The mention of eating a snake's knee at dinner was hilarious but the rest of the film is boring, predictable and unfunny.'The Waterboy' is the story of a retarded 31-year old man (Adam Sandler), completely dominated by his extremely eccentric cajun mother (Kathy Bates).
His name is Bobby Boucher and he loves his job as a waterboy for a Louisiana college football team that constantly bully and make fun of him.
The reason for the feud has left Henry Winkler's character with football coach impotency.Although the new team also bully and make fun of Bobby, we know by now that 'The Waterboy' will follow the usual cliche and he will somehow turn the team's fortunes around.
The only good things I can say about this movie was it had one or two moments that were funny and Sandler's voice was stupid enough that I could laugh at it.Overall, The Waterboy is a film I don't hate, but I don't care much for..
The scenes that stand out for me in Adam Sandler films are similar in that they have both humor and a wholesome, cathartic quality, and this scene is one of the very best.There's a number of people who could be on steroids in this film (not actually, but in their characters and actions) and then others who play the oddball wimps, and then you get Sandler's Bobby Boucher who is a bit of both.
"Bobby Boucher" (Adam Sandler) is a nice, young man who has had the misfortune of being without a father since the moment he was born and also having a domineering mother known simply as "Mama Boucher" (Kathy Bates) who won't let him do anything without her approval.
"The Waterboy" is a film starring Adam Sandler.
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 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.
The Waterboy is a dumb comedy that plays like a cross between Forrest Gump and What's Eating Gilbert Grape, seasoned with Adam Sandler's inimitable silliness.
Like Gilbert Grape, it's about a young man who is trapped in his family home taking care of his overweight mother, played here by the lovely and iconic Kathy Bates.The plot for The Waterboy is decidedly silly, and that's by design.
It's about a young man, played by Adam Sandler, who is a dedicated waterboy, serving the players of a college football team for years and without any thanks.
At first he imagines the evil head coach of the team who fired him, then later the players who bullied him, and eventually his own overbearing mother.Like most of Sandler's comedies, the story is of course stitched together with tons of jokes, which are sometimes corny, sometimes hilarious, always ridiculous, and very often extremely quotable.
The Waterboy is a comedic movie starring Adam Sandler as a Louisianan homeschooled man who goes to college to play football.
Adam Sandler has completely mastered the over the top goofball role in this movie and others such as Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore.
The plot of the story was excellent especially the part where he tried to hide the fact that he played "Foosball" from his overprotective mother played by Kathy Bates Bobby started off working as a waterboy for the South-Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs when one of the players made him mad.
According to many to be the 1990s highest grossing football game (until later films), this comedy isn't clever in a lot of ways but isn't completely void of laughs either.The story is about Southern son of Kathy Bates' momma's boy Bobby Boucher Jr.
Bobby Boucher (Adam Sandler) is the slow lowly 31 year old waterboy for the UL football team.
In the 1998 film, The Waterboy, Adam Sandler shows his talents as a southern-fried idiot, and it miraculously works for him.
The Waterboy is a funny movie with a good story,a great cast and some very funny scenes.Its nothing unusual for Adam Sandler,its not his best movie,but its also not his worst.The cast had there roles suited for them perfectly,I especially enjoyed Adam Sandler,Henry Winker (Fonzie from Happy Days) and Kathy Bates.Bobby Boucher (Adam Sandler) has been the water boy for a football team for many years,but he is kicked out,so he becomes a water boy for a rival team,who discover he has a great ability for tackling and he becomes a member of the team..
Kathy Bates and Henry Winkler unleash their wickedly funny hidden talents in supporting roles as Sandler's sanctimonious, over-protective mother and cowardly savant football coach, respectively.
Maybe it was the annoying voice of Sandler's character, but I felt detracted somewhat during the entire movie.This is about a water boy who becomes a "star" football player on a ragtag team because he tackles his opponents harshly and without mercy.
There are a couple of very effective supporting performances from Kathy Bates as Sandler's over-protective mother and Henry Winkler, in the performance of his career, as the neurotic coach of the team, who has more than his share of personal hang-ups.
It's an Adam Sandler movie (fortunately, I like the guy).
Bobby Boucher is fired from his job as waterboy for the UL football team after 18 years.
He also gets romantically involved with a beautiful ex-convict named Vicki (Mama doesn't approve, naturally).In all of the Adam Sandler movies I have seen except 'The Wedding Singer', Sandler has played a likeable loser with a temper who has obstacles to overcome, and I enjoy watching these Sandler characters.
This movie makes good use of 'morphing', or turning people Bobby is supposed to tackle into someone he is mad at.In addition to Sandler, Kathy Bates gives a good performance, especially in the second half.
** 1/2Starring: Adam Sandler, Fairuza Balk, Kathy Bates, and Henry Winkler.A kind waterboy learns of his excellent football skills after a person tests his limits.
The movie has some great laughs, and Sandler does a hell of a job as Bobby Boucher.
I especially *LOVED* the scene in which his mother 'finds out'.All in all: a great movie for laughs, absolutely not complicated, good fun for all ages under 40 i guess (though I'm 22 myself so that's hard to say :-).
While not the funniest movie I've ever seen, The Waterboy had a lot of funny moments, all thanks to Adam Sandler..
Adam Sandler plays Bobby Boucher, a waterboy for a college football team.
The reason this movie is so funny, is Adam Sandler.
And the performances weren't all that special either, it's just the way Adam Sandler is that makes the movie funny.
Adam Sandler is so funny, sweet and endearing as the central character, Bobby Boucher (Aka "The Waterboy").
When I went to see this movie I had great expectations about what it might be, part from reactions from people I know, and part because I really loved Adam Sandler's role in both Happy Gilmore and the Wedding Singer.
Adam Sandler (whom I otherwise like) was really terrible here and as for what Kathy Bates was doing in this movie.
But Adam Sandler (Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, Billy Madison) is no Jerry Lewis.Bobby gets fired by his football team for distracting the players too much, (they spend too much time at practice beating him up for fun) and he gets the gig supplying  the H2O to the rival, no hope, Mud Dogs.
See It. Obviously any Adam Sandler fan will love the Waterboy.
What It's About: When Cajun waterboy Bobby Boucher (Adam Sandler) discovers his great tackling ablity he is selected to play college football.Will Kids Want to Watch It?: Yes. With SNL star Sandler cracking jokes for (almost) all ages in this flick they will be hooked.MPAA Rating: PG-13Sex/Nudity: Bouchers girlfriend Vicki Vallencourt (Fairuza Balk) flashes him although nothing is shown.
The sight of Bobby Boucher, his no-brain waterboy character, making tackles just gets funny and funnier as the film goes on..
I did not like this movie at all and I am a HUGE Adam Sandler fan.
I know everyone rips on Adam Sandler movies, but I love them because they make me laugh like crazy.
i watched it with a bunch of people who played high school football and they absolutely loved it, but i couldn't help but think that this movie was really dumb.
i always hope that talented and funny people like adam sandler will come up with something better than this but they always seem to take a basic formula and do a voice instead of playing a character for a whole film.
Though definitely not one of his best films, Adam Sandler does come through with the laughs here.What I was really impressed with however was the fact that Clint Howard got a role without his brother Ron being a part of the movie..
On Adam Sandler's Movie Making Picks.
In lieu of the Waterboy (which I didn't like) and of Kathy Bates (the only good thing in the movie), I give you my mama's review of the movie.
Usually, I'm a big fan of Adam Sandler films.
Even for an Adam Sandler fan, this film was a big disappointment..
I think this movie was great but not up to Adam Sandler's "normal standard."  But for $7.50...
This movie was not intended for people who don't enjoy Adam Sandler's brand of humor.
I thought it was a little over art directed in places, but not distractingly so.I am not a college kid, or Adam Sandler's biggest fan, but I went to see this movie to laugh and I did..
Granted, Adam Sandler is awfully irritating, but there are enough other charming characters--especially the underrated Henry Winkler as the Coach--to carry the film along.