The Waterboy
As reviewed by James Brundage
There's a reason why there are more romantic comedies than slapstick movies: they cost less, are easier to make, and are a more sound investment. After all, we all want to fall in love, and what better place to do so that at the movies? In nearly makes me shudder at the number of relationships that were broken up last year by Adam Sandler's previous attempt at humor The Wedding Singer, an exercise not in creative humor but uninspired dryness.
So he tried to make people fall in love; who can blame him? Well, I can, but, as a critic, I have to not hold a grudge, or an opinion going in, or any hold on reality inside of the theater because otherwise I'd have gone insane long ago. So what has Sandler done now? He has atoned for his sins.
The Wedding Singer, well beyond sin and into blasphemy, which made me laugh once, was perfectly counterbalanced by the slapstick comedy The Waterboy, about a slow waterboy who decides to take his aggression out on the football field. If it were a sports movie, it would be trite, but instead it is a comedy, and we get to all enjoy ourselves.
At this point The Waterboy has a special place in my heart. Only a few movies have tried to kill me with unexpected laughs. There's Something About Mary almost did it with a kernel of popcorn that went down the wrong tube at an unexpected second and this comedy, which I will never drink soda during again. Make more like it Adam: your sins have been forgiven.
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