Cast: Adam Sandler, Fairuza Balk, Kathy Bates, Henry Winkler, Jerry Reed
Director: Frank Coraci
Producers: Jack Giarraputo, Robert Simonds
Screenplay: Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler
Cinematography: Steven Bernstein
Music: Alan Pasqua
U.S. Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
With the possible exception of Jim Carrey, no comic is hotter these days than Adam Sandler. His presence in a film guarantees a built-in audience and a minimum box office return. In today's movie climate, he can out-gross comic icons like John Cleese, Robin Williams, and Steve Martin. The Waterboy is Sandler's latest, following close on the heels of The Wedding Singer (the creative team, including director Frank Coraci and screenwriter Tim Herlihy, is the same). The film, as one might reasonably expect, is fairly lightweight: a confection that encircles islands of comedy with moats of sports movie clichés and weak semi-drama. It's more sentimental than, but not entirely unlike, Happy Gilmore on a football field.
Sandler is typically at his best when he plays a lout. When he's in that take-no-prisoners mode, he gets the loudest laughs. Unfortunately, with The Wedding Singer and now The Waterboy, he has taken a walk on the mild side. Here, his Bobby Boucher is basically Forrest Gump with a short temper. He can't be obnoxious, because that character trait is not effective in gaining an audience's sympathy, which is Sandler's objective. He wants us to like Bobby, because that's the only way the film's non-comedic elements have a chance of working.
When the film opens, Bobby is the 31 year-old waterboy for the Louisiana Cougars. The coach, Red Beaulieu (Jerry Reed), doesn't like him, so he lets the ax fall on Bobby. Despondent and looking for someone in need of the services of a professional "water distribution engineer," Bobby seeks out Coach Klein (Henry Winkler), leader of the fearless South Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs, who have an intact 40 game losing streak. Klein agrees to let Bobby be the waterboy, but, after Bobby loses his temper and flattens one of the players after being teased, Klein talks him into joining the team as a line backer. Bobby's mother (Kathy Bates) is as dead-set against his playing football as she is of him dating the just-out-of-jail Vicki Vallencourt (Fairuza Balk), but, as Coach Klein mentions, what Mama doesn't know can't hurt her.
The Waterboy offers a moderately high dosage of humor. The gags, many of which are of the physical variety, and none of which tax the intellect, vary from mildly amusing to genuinely funny. There are a few laugh-aloud moments, including one featuring a timely cameo. Unfortunately, Sandler isn't content to make a dumb comedy -- he wants to inject some character development, the beginnings of a dramatic structure, and even a moral into The Waterboy. None of these aspects are handled especially well, and they give the film a juvenile feel. Sandler clearly wants us to cheer for Bobby -- the underdog who overcomes the odds to become a big star -- but his methods are dubious. He uses the old stand-by of a bad sports team that comes from behind to contend for the championship, and follows the formula without a hint of parody or irony. On some level, he seems to believe that we'll buy into Bobby Boucher as a character, rather than just a sketchily-developed figure in a feature-length comedy skit.
With each movie, Sandler's screen presence is becoming more engaging, but he still has a distance to go before he can move into the orbit of the many comic actors who have expanded their ranges by playing serious roles. The members of his supporting cast accomplish what they're supposed to. Kathy Bates is suitably over-the-top as a cross between Mama Gump and Atilla the Hun. Henry Winkler portrays Coach Klein with a degree of meekness that makes one wonder if he's really the same man who once played the Fonz. Jerry Reed exudes the right amount of nastiness to make him an effective, although not superlative, villain. As for the film's love interest... Personally, I would have liked to have seen a little more of Fairuza Balk (no pun intended), but she is relegated to a background role. Unlike the other late-'90s grunge princess, Christina Ricci, Balk has yet to land a part that offers her a chance to showcase her competence as an actress. At least she has a little more to do here than in American History X.
Adam Sandler fans will probably be pleased by their idol's latest effort, and Touchstone is almost guaranteed to reap the benefit at the box office. The Waterboy is arguably Sandler's most enjoyable motion picture to date, but it's still far from a masterpiece. Comedies of this sort are a dime a dozen, and it's only Sandler's presence that gives this one any clout. For those who commit themselves to seeing this 90 minute movie, there are laughs to be had, but the flaccid material surrounding them cheapens, rather than bolsters, the effectiveness of every successful joke.
© 1998 James Berardinelli