Starring: Adam Sandler, Kathy Bates, Henry Winkler, Fairuza Balk
Director: Frank Coraci
Genre: Comedy
Cert: 15
Released: 1998

All football players need water. And behind all good water is a good waterboy. Or so the saying goes.

Bobby Boucher (Sandler) is one of the best waterboys around. However, the team he works for don’t have much respect for the dim-witted lad and after receiving constant torment and ridicule from the players, Coach Beaulieu (Jerry Reed) sacks him. Back home, his over-bearing mother wants him to stay there with her but Bobby prefers to return to pitchside action.

He meets Coach Klein, unsuccessful oddball coach of the local college football side, and offers to work as waterboy for free. At training one day Klein discovers, completely by accident, that when properly motivated, Bobby can tackle like nobody he has ever seen before. So Bobby goes from waterboy to amazing player and he pushes the team of losers further than ever before. It’s a brand new movie concpet!

Who said sentimentality in movies is dead? Erm, no one. This film is full of it. It’s got sentimentality coming out of it’s ears. You got the simple waterboy – no friends, domineering mother, obvious 31 year-old virgin, pro-wrestling fan. What a sad picture! We all know that Bobby is a loser, so seeing him succeed and slowly become accepted by the other players and the fans is about as sentimental as things can get. He’s also (inexplicably) got gorgeous ex-con, Vicki Vallencourt (Balk), aiming to become his first female conquest and keeping the relationship from his over-protective mother is a challenge in itself.

There’s a lot of slapstick and some funny running jokes, like the mumbling coach and the scared-stiff Professor who already suffered one of Bobby’s tackles. It is of course obviously predictable stuff and hugely non-sensical in parts. Bobby grates on your nerves at the beginning with his stammering, almost childish Cajun accent and mannerisms. However, after 10-15 minutes I was able to put it to the back of my mind and concentrate on enjoying the movie.

Apart from “Hudson Hawk”, this is probably the worst received movies that I actually thoroughly enjoyed.

It’s not “Fargo”, but it’s entertaining.