Jim Carrey was regarded as the funniest man in Hollywood. Then, things started to change. He started doing serious comedy, then moved onto drama. Who was the torch passed down to? Adam Sandler. But, people thought he might change after the success of his "normal" comedy, The Wedding Singer, a clever film that did not rely on Sandler's goofball antics. But, diehard Sandler fans should not fear, because Adam is back with a vengeance in The Waterboy, a film that gives us some great laughs, but not consistently.
Adam Sandler is a goofball. He made us roll in the aisles in Happy Gilmore then progressed to hilariously mocking the 80s in The Wedding Singer. In The Waterboy, he's back to his Gilmoreish antics. His character, Bobby Boucher is the waterboy for the local football team, but eventually gets fired. He is a loser. He watches wrestling, lives with his mom and has he voice of a twelve-year-old. This character is pure Sandler. Unfortunately, Sandler is not that good. In the beginning, hearing his voice and seeing his tackles are hilarious. But, a half-hour into the film, it gets boring. I thought this film was gonna bomb at that point, but luckily, Sandler's supporting cast delivers in a big way.
Henry Winkler, The Fonz, is in The Waterboy? I was asking the same question, but he turns out to have the best performance in the whole film. I thought they would try to throw in some jokes from Happy Days or do something to make Winkler somewhat like The Fonz, but he's not. And the audience benefits. He sets up- and knocks down- a majority of the jokes in the film and makes up for a mediocre performance by Adam Sandler. Winkler plays the coach of another local football team, which is much worse then the team Boucher (Sandler) previously worked for. He hires Sandler to be the waterboy, and then finds out Boucher's rage on the field. Winkler delivers a great performance, and shines on the screen every time he appears.
Kathy Bates also helps the cause by making up for Sandler's lacking performance. She is clever and funny as Mrs. Boucher, Bobby's overprotective mother. Whether she is try to keep the girls away from her son, or make sure he is not playing football, Bates delivers in The Waterboy and helps make up for Sandler's average performance.
The plot is nothing extraordinary. It moves along at a decent pace, although the film tends to get boring near the last quarter of it. Despite the short time of the film, it still is too long, because the script is extremely underwritten. They do not even attempt to write Sandler's character anything clever. They basically just have Sandler making a fool of himself in an attempt to get laughs. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't.
The rest of the cast is ordinary. Besides the performances of Winkler and Bates, nothing else is above average. This keeps the film locked down to mediocre status. After seeing The Wedding Singer, I expected Sandler to be great in this film. I was glad to see his return to goofball comedy, but it was not done right. They should have written his character more and given him some jokes, not just stunt jokes.
Overall, The Waterboy is a funny movie. It's just not consistent. For fifteen minutes of the film you may be on the floor laughing and the other you may be wondering what they're talking about. Either way, if you are looking for a good laugh, check this film out. It may not be consistent, but it is Adam Sandler and The Fonz, so just seeing that is worth the price of the rental.
Rating: 2 1/2 Stars out of 4 Stars.
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