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Waterboy, The
Buena Vista Pictures

Waterboy, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 41 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.1 out of 10
based on 21 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language and some crude sexual humor

Starring Adam Sandler, Kathy Bates, Fairuza Balk, Henry Winkler, Jerry Reed, Larry Gilliard Jr., Blake Clark, and Peter Dante

Just an oddball mama's boy from the back bayous of Louisiana, Bobby Boucher (Sandler) never wanted anything more than to quench the thirst of the dehydrated athletes who treat him like dirt! But when Coach Klein (Winkler) makes the call that allows Bobby to finally stand up for himself, it unleashes a torrent of bottled-up frustration ... and exposes a talent for tackling that transforms him from a meek "water distribution engineer" into the hardest hitter ever to roam the gridiron! (Buena Vista Entertainment)


GENRE(S): Comedy  
WRITTEN BY: Tim Herlihy
Adam Sandler
 
DIRECTED BY: Frank Coraci  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: June 3, 2003 
Video: October 8, 2002 
Theatrical: November 6, 1998 
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

63
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Arguably Sandler's most enjoyable motion picture to date, but it's still far from a masterpiece.
Read Full Review
63
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Offers dumb fun without apology.
Read Full Review
60
Washington Post Rita Kempley
The Perrier of dumb-and-dumber movies, an effervescent idiot's delight that burbles from the wellspring of silliness inside star Adam Sandler's head.
Read Full Review
60
The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
This escapist comedy is so cheerfully outlandish that it's hard to resist, and so good-hearted that it's genuinely endearing.
Read Full Review
60
TV Guide Ken Fox
No one does deranged quite like Kathy Bates (the film's running gag involving Bates and the delicacies of Cajun cuisine is hilarious).
Read Full Review
50
Variety Glenn Lovell
This yahoos-on-the-bayou farce is neither inventive nor outrageous enough.
Read Full Review
50
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
It's not "Billy Madison," quite, but The Waterboy is still pure Sandler. If you like that sort of thing.
Read Full Review
50
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
A deluge of funny, inane jokes.
Read Full Review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) John Haslett Cuff
As a satire on the only true religion of the American South -- football -- The Waterboy is a delight.
Read Full Review
50
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
An unabashed wallow in the moronic humor of Adam Sandler.
Read Full Review
50
USA Today Susan Wloszczyna
As funny as it can be, this underdawg comedy isn't much more than Sandler's golf-oriented "Happy Gilmore" with a Cajun accent. [6 November 1998, p. 10E]
40
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Another film about . . . a cretinous, grating loser.
Read Full Review
40
Empire Caroline Westbrook
Perfectly watchable, undemanding fun, but you can't help thinking that a slightly darker tone would have gone a very long way.
Read Full Review
40
Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
Geek-triumphs-after-all comedies can be charming, but in this one the triumphing begins so early it's hard to feel for the geek.
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40
LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
Of course it's dumb, but every 10 minutes or so, it's also pretty funny.
Read Full Review
40
Los Angeles Times John Anderson
Follows a leadenly predictable path that will be more than familiar to anyone who's seen a recent sports movie, or any Sandler movie.
Read Full Review
40
The Onion (A.V. Club) Joshua Klein
A mess of bad timing, bad jokes, and bad ideas so lame that even Sandler's idiot man-child mugging can't enliven the proceedings.
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25
New York Daily News David Kehr
Working a lisping Southern accent that sounds like Truman Capote on Seconal, Sandler plays Bobby Boucher, a swamp-dwelling Cajun. [6 November 1998, p. 56]
25
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Sandler is making a tactical error when he creates a character whose manner and voice has the effect of fingernails on a blackboard, and then expects us to hang in there for a whole movie.
Read Full Review
20
Film Threat Ron Wells
A stupid summer movie.
Read Full Review
16
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Becomes yet another lame sports farce.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
I rarely enjoy stupid movies, I watch a film looking at it from a critics perspective, but this film broke me from that, I laughed from the beginning to end its genius.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
Adam Sandler in this movie is friggin' awesome

Roma M gave it a10:
Brilliant movie! Must be one of the best Adam Sandlers film for sure! Don't listen to critics,this movie is really really funny!

Sam M. gave it a10:
Forget the critics, this is an awesome comedy. Sandler at his best!

Steve gave it a2:
predictable tripe. i can't recall any time that i laughed - not because the jokes weren't funny; just because the punchline was just so obvious.

Bit Burn gave it a9:
Forget the critics, this is an awesome comedy. Sandler at his best!

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
Now this is comedy. The Medulla oblongata part was genius.

Read more user comments...

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