The Waterboy
Touchstone Pictures (1998)
The first movie for which Adam Sandler has acting, screenwriting, and producing credits has turned 25 years old today. In addition to Sandler, The Waterboy includes fun performances from Kathy Bates, Henry Winkler, and Fairuza Balk. In a decade filled with silly comedies, it stands out as one that makes me laugh every time that I see it.
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| Philadelphia Daily News (November 6, 1998) |
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| Intelligencer Journal - Lancaster, PA (November 9, 1998) |
Predictably the critics slammed it, which makes me wonder why some film critics bother reviewing movies like this in the first place. If your only interest when it comes to watching movies is seeing something with artistic merit or thought-provoking social commentary, it seems pointless to review a silly comedy like The Waterboy. I suspect that many of the negative reviews were written before the reviewer watched the movie, with a few blank spots to fill in the details after the fact. It's as silly as a top food critic reviewing the Beef N' Cheddar Sandwich at Arby's.
Thankfully, audiences in the late 90's didn't have a stick crammed up their ass. Upon its release, The Waterboy set a ticket sales record for a film released in November or December, and it went on to gross over $190 million dollars at the box office. Not too shabby for a film that cost $20 million to make.
