Do you want to see ‘The Waterboy’?

The Waterboy (1998)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 4.6/10
Reviews Counted: 73
Fresh: 23 | Rotten: 50

This is an insult to its genre with low humor and cheap gags.

Average Rating: 3.8/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 13

This is an insult to its genre with low humor and cheap gags.

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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 845,335

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Movie Info

As with his previous films, comedian Adam Sandler and writing partner Tim Herlihy have conceived a simple premise, character, and title, and peppered their creation with visual sight gags. The story concerns Bobby Boucher, a Louisiana-born-and-bred kid living in the swamps with his overbearing, alligator-eating mom (Kathy Bates). Bobby is a water boy for the local college football team, and a damn good one, even good at turning a deaf ear at the ridicule he gets from the players and coach (Jerry

PG-13, 1 hr. 30 min.

Comedy

Directed By: Frank Coraci

Written By: Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler

In Theaters: Nov 6, 1998 Wide

On DVD: Mar 16, 1999

Cast

Adam Sandler
Bobby Boucher
Kathy Bates
Mama Boucher
Henry Winkler
Coach Klein
Fairuza Balk
Vicki Vallencourt
Jerry Reed
Red Beaulieu
Lawrence Gilliard Jr.
Derek Wallace
Blake Clark
Farmer Fran
Rob Schneider
Townie
Robert Kokol
Professor
Clint Howard
Paco
Al Whiting
Casey Bugge
Paul Wight
Captain Insano
Allen Covert
Walter
Jonathan Loughran
Lyle Robideaux
Todd Holland
Greg Meaney
Alan Pasqua
Larry Gilliard Jr.
Peter Dante

Critic Reviews for The Waterboy

All Critics (76) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (23) | Rotten (51) | DVD (15)

The formulaic mix of mirth and mayhem is aimed way down the MTV food chain...

June 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Glenn Lovell

Variety

Top Critic

The film is amiably goofy.

July 21, 2005 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle

| Comment

Jeff Millar

Houston Chronicle

Top Critic

As a satire on the only true religion of the American South -- football -- The Waterboy is delightful.

July 12, 2002 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail

| Comment

John Haslett Cuff

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

We've got somewhat entertaining trash here.

June 18, 2002 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

| Comment

Peter Stack

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

Sandler makes the laughs go down easy, even if The Waterboy isn't exactly quality H2O.

May 11, 2001 Comment

Peter Travers

Rolling Stone

Top Critic

A character whose manner and voice has the effect of fingernails on a blackboard!

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comment (1)

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Really dumb, but many teens love it anyway.

December 29, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

| Comment (1)

Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

An agreeable yet forgettable comedy...

July 10, 2010 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews

| Comment (1)

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

There's an innocence to The Waterboy that makes the picture part slapstick and part fairy tale...The only problem with letting kids see this Adam Sandler movie? They might want to see another one. [Blu-ray]

August 12, 2009 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews

| Comment

Peter Canavese

Groucho Reviews Source: Groucho Reviews

The Waterboy isn't one of Adam Sandler's best comedies, nor is it one of his worst.

July 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

James Plath

Movie Metropolis

A predictable, formulaic, dumb comedy that has about as much depth as Bobby . . . unless you think of it in Forrest Gump terms, and then it begins to get a little less offensive and a little funnier.

July 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

James Plath

Movie Metropolis

Perfectly watchable, undemanding fun, but you can't help thinking that a slightly darker tone would have gone a very long way.

June 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine

| Comment (1)

Empire Magazine

Hands up anyone who shelled-out cash at the cinema to see this pathetic sporting comedy...What were you thinking of?

June 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comments (4)

Film4

The Waterboy is scrappy and funny and achieves its modest aim, which is to make us laugh like grade-schoolers. The doofus boy triumphs again.

July 23, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com

| Comment

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

The direction is as blunt and vacant as the plotting, the jokes are obvious and the performances (with a couple of exceptions) charmless.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Time Out

No stretching involved, but he delivers. It's a safe date film.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat

| Comment

Ron Wells

Film Threat

It's a piece of comic fluff that has lots of laughs and appeals to the kid in us all.

April 9, 2005 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews

| Comment

Robin Clifford

Reeling Reviews

The Waterboy is a disappointment, even by standards associated with Adam Sandler's work.

February 28, 2005 Full Review | Comment

Dragan Antulov

Draxblog Movie Reviews Source: Draxblog Movie Reviews

Adam Sandler movies are like kumquats -- you either like them or you don't.

January 29, 2005 Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

| Comment

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

God knows, it tries, but most of the jokes fall flat, and the movie never gets off the ground.

May 22, 2003 Full Review Source: Film Blather

| Comment

Eugene Novikov

Film Blather

The Waterboy should have been sacked long before it reached the theater.

May 20, 2003 Comment

Kate Manning

Palo Alto Weekly

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Waterboy

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One of Sandler's best loved movies of the 90s, this comedy is fun, humourous, and full of life. Of course there are a good number of stupid jokes in it too, but overall it's very funny.

September 6, 2010

AJ Verser

Super Reviewer

THE WATERBOY is a dumb football farce and just another predictable Adam Sandler comedy. It was possible to laugh in some scenes, but this, overall, was not very funny. It stars Adam Sandler as the title role, a 31-year-old named Bobby Boucher with the obnoxious voice of a 10-year-old, who has been bringing water to

June 29, 2011

Alexander Diminiano

Super Reviewer

The Waterboy Quotes

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1. Bobby Boucher: Mama not a fan of restaurants or of of of me goin to one, but but but if you like some...times on a Sunday afternoon with charcoal bi.. biscuits and a grill.
– Submitted by Seth R (18 days ago)
1. Bobby Boucher: Ma-ma-m-m-mama said.
– Submitted by Matthew S (3 months ago)
1. Townie: You can do it. Cut his fucking head off!
– Submitted by Rocky F (8 months ago)