Taking a step back toward “Cajun Man” and “Canteen Boy”, Sandler is 31 year-old Bobby Boucher, waterboy to the University of Louisiana football team for the last 18 years. Mercilessly abused by the team, Bobby is fired by the coach (Jerry Reed) for being a distraction. Bobby takes a job at the smaller and seedier Central Louisiana State University with a team that’s lost 40 games straight. When the somewhat mental coach (Henry Winkler) tells Bobby to defend himself from the abuse of this team, Bobby focuses 20 years of rage into tackling the quarterback. Bobby is made a linebacker behind the back of his disapproving mother (Kathy Bates putting that Oscar to use); hilarity ensues. All ends with a bowl game against the team that fired him. You were expecting Chekov?
“The Waterboy” is a stupid summer movie that takes the weight off all the depressingly serious fall films, a reprieve from the Oscar death march. While Sandler did more actual acting in “The Wedding Singer”, we need movie stars who aren’t afraid to act like idiots (in Bruce Willis’ case, I don’t think it’s… oh, never mind). Whether you enjoy this movie depends on how you feel about Sandler. No stretching involved, but he delivers. It’s a safe date film. “The Waterboy” won’t change your life, but it might get you laid.
