Are You With Us? The Waterboy
By Ryan Mazie
November 8, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
With one of the most shudder-inducing trailers and posters in recent memory, I’d be surprised if Jack and Jill becomes certified fresh on Rottentomatoes.com. But who knows? Maybe it will be good – after all, I was surprised to find a press screening invite in my inbox last week for it.
There seems to be no rhyme or reason to my liking of Adam Sandler flicks. I hated Grown Ups with a passion, but enjoyed Just Go With It. I couldn’t wait to click Click out of the DVD player, but I have seen You Don’t Mess With the Zohan more than once. So, when it comes to seeing Sandler films, I am always surprised with the outcome.
Today’s column is about another Sandler release this very weekend 13 years ago, and was his first hundred million dollar (and still one of his highest-grossing) hit – The Waterboy.
Unlike Sandler’s other earlier films that I seem to watch perennially one way or another, I cannot remember the last time I saw The Waterboy (although my “7” rating on IMDb means that I liked it at some point).
A once constantly quoted comedy (“Colonel Saunders!”), The Waterboy seems to have faded away in terms of popularity outside of Sandler-fandom, especially after his other football themed comedy, The Longest Yard (fun fact: these are the second and third highest-grossing football-themed movies ever besides The Blind Side).
Sandler plays the socially inept water boy, Bobby Boucher. A water enthusiast, Boucher comes from Jackson Bay, Louisiana, “The Heart of Cajun Country” as the welcome sign reads. Living in the sticks and driving a lawnmower instead of a car (as you can see, we aren’t dealing with sophisticated humor here), the film starts with Bobby getting fired from a championship football team and winding up with a team of college losers as their water boy.
When the coach (Henry Winkler) finds Bobby to have unexpected strength, he makes him a part of the team and introduces Bobby to a world of college education. However, don’t expect any Pygmalion transformations here. Sandler’s Bobby Boucher is so annoying with a grating voice and incessant idiocy that you can’t help but feel that he is just trying to be hated.
The Waterboy does have its fair share of laughs but they aren’t raunchy enough to be hard-hitting or sweet enough to have a replay value. Instead, the film is a weird hodgepodge of gross-out jokes that never knows if it is coming or going.
Based off of a combination of Sandler’s “Cajun Man” sketches and “The Lonesome Kicker” song from his Saturday Night Live days, Sandler’s character of Boucher is just too much of everything. While he can deliver a punch on the football field, Bobby is less of a person and more of a punching bag, being the butt of every joke.
Kathy Bates creates the most comedy, and the best character, as Bobby’s “Mama.” Manipulative and overbearing, Mama Boucher is determined to keep Bobby protected in her Cajun cabin. Knowing how to exaggerate without becoming excessive (which is Sandler’s problem), Bates is a laugh-out loud pleasure whenever she appears on screen. Henry Winkler unfortunately isn’t given such an opportunity to be wild and fun as the has-been coach, serving more of a plot catalyst than any actual character.
Fairuza Balk (an actress who found brief fame in the late ’90s with The Craft and American History X before falling off the map) plays Bobby’s trailer trash love interest, but is never big enough in her actions to own any of her scenes – especially next to the bigger-than-life Sandler.
Opening November 6, 1998, The Waterboy sacked the competition and stood on top with a ridiculous-for-the-time $39.4 million weekend ($67 million adjusted, which would equate to the biggest opening weekend in October). Having legs that could run the length of five football fields, The Waterboy ended up with a sky-high $161.5 million finish ($272.3 million today). Made for $23 million, this was a touchdown for Buena Vista and the final spark needed to ignite Sandler’s blockbuster comedy career. Critics were less enthused, with the top critics only giving it a 24% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes.
Sandler is one of the few actors who can still rope in the crowds. When it comes to a PG-13 live-action comedy (his most popular genre outside of a few films), you have to go all the way back to 2000’s Little Nicky to find a film of his in this genre that has grossed under $100 million. While his dramas never find traction, when Sandler is in his wheelhouse, he is seemingly unstoppable (so, it wouldn’t be wise to bet against Jack and Jill succeeding even though we can all cross our fingers it won’t for the sake of cinema and getting Sandler’s perspective of what a “good comedy” is back on track).
Co-scripted by Sandler and frequent collaborator in his early career days, Tim Herlihy, The Waterboy never quenches the comedic thirst the audience is craving. While it might drop your IQ, there are inarguably funny moments, but that is more thanks to director Frank Coraci’s visual set-up than the words coming out of the actor’s mouths. With a fairly light resume, Coraci last directed the underwhelming Kevin James kiddie comedy, The Zookeeper.
Watching the loser Mud Dogs football players pant on the field, you can’t help but feel as if the movie is struggling to reach the finish; and at only 90 minutes, it shouldn’t be terribly hard to do. For a film about H20, The Waterboy sure feels dehydrated.
Verdict: Not With Us
4 out of 10