The Waterboy

How do you go from The Wedding Singer to this. Adam Sandler’s previous movie, The Wedding Singer was a sublime, sweet, funny romantic comedy. Sandler showcased his talents in a different, highly accessable way. But Sandler, whose comic ability I highly admire, is a damn fool for agreeing to star in The Waterboy, a dim-witted comedy about a waterboy whose only concern is to provide high-quality H2O to football players. But when he gets fired and finds another job, he discovers that he also has a talent for tackling people. So, the coach of a struggling football team (Henry Winkler) jumps on the chance to have the waterboy be a linebacker.

Those who see similarities in this plot to that of Happy Gilmore aren’t too far off. Both movies have a struggling main character, who discovers a talent for a sport and winds up hitting it big. The only differences are a) The Waterboy is not funny! God know, it tries, but most of the jokes fall flat, and the movie never gets off the ground. b) Happy Gilmore is pretty much a normal person, this allows us to almost relate to him. Sandler plays the waterboy like a retard, and that’s what he is to us.

Kathy Bates as the waterboy’s mom and Harry Winkler as the coach are wonderful — very funny at times, but they are so far above the material it’s almost painful to watch. Adam Sandler, as I have mentioned makes a big mistake playing his character as a moron, and I couldn’t appreciate his performance. And, formulaically, the ending is a big game, which further dissapointed me.

Adam Sandler is talented enough to recover from this slump of a film, and I’m willing to forget it, pass it off as just a big mistake. Just do better next time.

-- Eugene Novikov