ejamessnyder 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 Forrest Gump, it's about a "slow" southern man whose athletic potential is one day noticed by a college football coach who goes on to recruit him for the team. 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. But it's no sillier than a typical Hollywood film; the only difference here is that the filmmakers were aware of the absurdity, and that's what is good about it. Everybody's in on the joke. 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. He endures much torment from the team members and coach, who constantly ridicule him, and one day he is fired. The coach for the opposing team—played by Henry Winkler in his finest and most hilarious role—recruits him first as a waterboy and then as a linebacker, despite his mother's wishes.He has an extraordinary ability to tackle opponents, due to the anger that has built up within him from years of verbal abuse. But he can only tackle them if he is mad at them, so he imagines the faces of his tormentors on the players of the opposing team. 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. This is perhaps the most quotable of Adam Sandler's films, and for that reason it is one of the most memorable. I watched it once or twice the year it came out and never saw it again until eighteen and a half years later, but I still remembered so many of the lines.My favorite is when the waterboy's coach tells him, right before a play, "Water sucks. Gatorade is better." He tells him to use the anger that he feels in hearing that statement on the field to tackle opponents. It's a simple line, and seems like a corny joke at first, but it's actually on of cinema's most hilarious lines for so many reasons.It's hilarious because up until then, the waterboy had been using his deep-seated anger to bring out his rage on the field. But then we see him do just as well based on an insult that his own kindhearted coach mutters to him moments before he steps onto the field, despite the fact that the waterboy himself must know he doesn't really mean it, and in an instant comically trivializing all of the waterboy's abuse that had been built up until that point. It's hilarious that someone would be so personally offended by such a claim about water. And it's hilarious because we all know that water doesn't suck, as it's necessary for survival. The levels of humor are so subtle that one could easily miss them, but they're there. It almost makes me wonder if perhaps ever the writers didn't pick up on them.

Anthony Robinson This is one of the best Adam Sandlers best movies ever! Sandlers is his usual funny self. His use of his goofy personality puts a great spin on the movie...we root Adam o4n the whole movie. this movie is not the best movie of Adams career! Its the top 5 under click ,happy Gilmore and big daddy.

Dom Nickson I give credit for Adam Sandler for being in this film. I also give Rob Schneider credit but this movie is just so unfunny it just disappoints me when I see the box on my shelf and realize I'm not getting my money back. This movie is very poorly written with having the lead girl act trampy. I mean she awkwardly reminds me of my cousin and it just isn't a good thing. I don't really root for her to get the main guy because hey she just isn't all that attractive when she tries acting like it. I'm also turned off by this movie when the only thing I think would of been funnier and more realistic is having Adam Sandler's mother/ Kathy Bates murder everybody on the other team. The ending really is a disappointing climax and it just really is poorly done. You don't get satisfied in the end. It's a 3 out of 10 for Big Show's cameo, Kathy Bates' 2nd psycho performance, and having Rob Schneider play the character that Adam Sandler seemed to play in The Animal.

mkelly54 It's obvious many people think too much of their film critic credentials, and they miss the overall point of "The Waterboy": There isn't a shred of "serious" to the story, simply a spoof of all things related to big time college football, the deep South and over-bearing mothers. To see it as anything else is to lose grasp on the human comedy. Much like folks misunderstanding the camp nature of "Starship Troopers," "The Waterboy" is a classic in its own right, with a flip of the finger to anyone who doesn't comprehend the intentions of the production. In fact, if they don't understand, they should take mama's place in the hospital bed!