Director: Frank Coraci
While it is considered a sports movie, The Waterboy is one of the fifty worst sports movies of all time, according to Bleacher Report. It very well may be, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it.
Click here The Waterboy trailer
PLOT
Robert “Bobby” Boucher, Jr. (Adam Sandler) is a stuttering, socially awkward 31-year old water boy for the University of Louisiana football team. He lives with his mother, Helen (Kathy Bates), and believes his father, Robert Sr., died while serving in the Peace Corps in the late 1960’s.
As the Cougars’ players regularly harass and bully Boucher, their head coach, Red Beaulieu (Jerry Reed) fires Bobby, claiming he has been troublesome during his 18 years as the team’s hydration engineer. Boucher is then hired as water boy by Coach Klein (Henry Winkler) of the inferior South Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs. In the midst of a 40-game losing streak, the players are forced to share equipment due to budget cuts, and their cheerleaders are alcoholics.
When his new team continues to bully and tease him, Klein encourages Bobby to stand up for himself, leading to his tackle and knockout of the team’s quarterback. Bobby has a lot of repressed anger issues due to his overprotective mother Helen’s extreme sheltering and his years as a victim of bullying. Seeing his potential, Klein meets with Boucher’s mom and attempts to persuade her to let Bobby play on the team, but she steadfastly refuses, insisting it is too dangerous.
Klein convinces Bobby to play without Helen’s knowledge, and he develops into a fierce linebacker. Klein instructs him to visualize his enemies angering him and use those intense feelings for motivation. This leads to the Mud Dogs going on a winning streak. Through his recently discovered fame and confidence, Bobby is able to reconnect with his childhood crush, Vicki Vallencourt (Fairuza Balk), who has served multiple prison terms. Helen forbids Bobby from seeing her, warning him that girls are “the devil”. She says the same thing about football, and basically everything else.
The team earns a trip to the annual Bourbon Bowl on New Year’s Day to face the Cougars and Klein’s former coaching partner, Coach Beaulieu. The Cougars, led by their coach, crash the Mud Dogs’ pep rally and reveal that Bobby never finished high school since he was homeschooled, and his high school transcript is fake, making him ineligible for college and football. This draws the ire of the team and its fans.
Klein convinces the NCAA to reinstate Bobby if he can pass a GED exam. The apologetic coach admits to Bobby he submitted the fake transcript because he was desperate to get even with Beaulieu. Twenty years prior, in 1978, while assistant coaches at University of Louisiana, Beaulieu stole Klein’s playbook, took credit for it, and was promoted to head coach, at which time he promptly fired Klein.
The experience traumatized Klein and he suffered a mental breakdown, unable to create new plays. The story motivates Bobby to help Klein get his revenge and prove himself to everyone. Helen nags Bobby while he is studying for the GED, and he finally stands up against her. He angrily informs her that he has been doing all the things she considered “the devil”, going to college, playing football, and seeing Vicki, and intends to continue.
Bobby passes the exam, but his mother fakes a coma. Feeling guilty for her illness, Bobby stays by her side in the hospital. Vicki, meanwhile, spreads word of Bobby’s success on the exam, leading to a gathering of fans at the hospital. They apologize for not supporting him and attempt to convince him to play. Seeing her son’s struggle, Helen ends her charade, and then tells Bobby his father was never in the Peace Corps, abandoning her while she was four months pregnant with him, to have an affair with a voodoo priestess in New Orleans. As a result, Helen was constantly in fear that Bobby would leave her as well. Realizing how selfish she has been, and seeing Bobby happy with his life, she encourages him to play in the bowl game.
Bobby arrives at the Bourbon Bowl at halftime, with the Mud Dogs down 27-0. With Bobby’s help, Klein conquers his fear of Beaulieu by visualizing him as a baby, and comes up with new plays. The Mud Dogs rally, unnerving Beaulieu, who resorts to deceitful tactics to preserve the team’s honor. Helen serves the cheerleaders coffee to sober them up, and Vicki assumes waterboy duties. The Mud Dogs win the Bourbon Bowl, 30-27, and Bobby is named MVP, crushing the Cougars and their coach.
Later in time, Bobby and Vicki are wed, and Bobby’s father, Robert Sr., who has changed his name to Roberto, surprises Bobby and tries to convince his son to skip school and go to the NFL. His motivation is to share in his son’s fame, citing the success of Tiger Woods and his father. He is tackled by an infuriated Helen and the newlyweds depart to consummate their marriage.
NOTES
While the film was set in Louisiana, it was filmed mostly in the Central Florida and Orlando area. There were also scenes filmed in Daytona Beach, Deland, and Lakeland, as well as surrounding locales.
The Mud Dogs home games were filmed at the home stadium of the DeLand High School Bulldogs. The classrooms and gym where Bobby takes the GED exam are at Stetson University, which is also in DeLand. The scenes involving Helen’s cabin were shot in Clermont, Florida, on Lake Louisa.
Coach Klein’s office was actually a stage built inside of the Florida Army National Guard Armory in DeLand, Florida. I never noticed before, but upon closer inspection, in the background of the practice field scenes, the Armory and military vehicles are visible.
The exterior of the University of Louisiana stadium was Everbank Field in Jacksonville; the interior is Camping World Stadium in Orlando, which was also the location of the Bourbon Bowl. The flyover at the beginning of the game is from Williams-Brice Stadium at the University of South Carolina.
CAST
- Adam Sandler as Bobby Boucher, Jr.
- Kathy Bates as Helen “Mama” Boucher
- Henry Winkler as Coach Klein
- Fairuza Balk as Vicki Vallencourt
- Jerry Reed as Coach Red Beaulieu
- Peter Dante as Gee Grenouille
- Larry Gilliard, Jr. as Derek Wallace
- Blake Clark as Farmer Fran
- Jonathan Loughran as Lyle Robideaux
- Clint Howard as Paco
- Allen Covert as Walter
- Rob Schneider as The Townie
- Kevin Farley as Jim Simonds
- Robert Kokol as The Professor
- Frank Coraci as Robert “Roberto” Boucher, Sr.
- Big Show as Captain Insano
- Soon Hee Newbold as Mud Dog Cheerleader
People appearing as themselves:
- Dan Fouts (ABC Sports commentator)
- Brent Musberger (ABC Sports commentator)
- Lynn Swann (ABC Sports commentator)
- Chris Fowler (ESPN commentator)
- Lee Corso (ESPN commentator)
- Dan Patrick (ESPN Sportscenter commentator)
- Lawrence Taylor (LT’s Louisiana Lightning Training Football Camp)
- Bill Cowher (Pittsburgh Steelers coach)
- Jimmy Johnson (Miami Dolphins coach)
Sportsnutt Review
First of all, the soundtrack was better than the movie, with hits such as Born on the Bayou (Creedence Clearwater Revival), Tom Sawyer (Rush), Let’s Groove (Earth, Wind & Fire) Always on the Run (Lenny Kravitz), and Small Town (John Mellencamp).
Obviously it was stupid, but it was my kind of stupid. I’m not a movie snob, but I know when a film has no socially redeeming value whatsoever. But I own it, and I’m sure I’ll watch it again. Of course it’s wildly unrealistic, but it also is just simple, good-hearted fun, and what’s wrong with that? If you’re a football fan, you’ve likely seen it more than once.
Say what you want about Adam Sandler’s acting career (he hasn’t gotten better with age like some actors), and for some he was never their cup of tea, but I think at one time he was pretty funny, and somewhat endearing. On the scale of his all-time work, I think The Waterboy ranks fourth on his list of movies, behind Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and The Wedding Singer (although Rotten Tomatoes’ rankings disagree). What do you think?
Ratings
- IMDb 6.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 35%
- Metacritic 41%
- The Sportsnutt 2.5/5
One of my favorite movies!!
High quality H2O!