Taglines: You can mess with him. But don’t mess with his water.
The Waterboy movie storyline. Bobby Boucher (Adam Sandler) is a socially inept, stuttering 31-year-old water boy of the University of Louisiana Cougars, a major championship-caliber college program. He lives with his excessively protective mother Helen (Kathy Bates), and believes his father, Robert Sr., died of dehydration in the Sahara while serving in the Peace Corps.
And school authorities begins to notice the players constantly bullying Boucher, the Cougar’s head coach, Red Beaulieu (Jerry Reed), fires Boucher, claiming he is “disruptive.” After a few failed attempts to find work, Bobby approaches Coach Klein (Henry Winkler) of the far more austere South Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs, and is hired as the team’s water boy. The Mud Dogs are a struggling team both on and off the field. They have lost 40 consecutive games, their cheerleaders are alcoholics, and players are forced to share equipment due to budget cuts.
Helen forbids Bobby from playing football, warning him of its “evils.” After the new team picks on him, Bobby is encouraged by Klein to stand up for himself, leading him to to him tackling and knocking out the team’s quarterback. It turns out Bobby has hidden anger issues due to Helen’s excessive sheltering and years being bullied. Seeing his potential, Klein meets with Bobby and Helen and tries to persuade her to let Bobby play, emphasizing this can get him a college education, but Helen stubbornly refuses.
Klein eventually convinces Bobby to play without letting Helen know. Bobby quickly becomes one of the most feared linebackers. In his first game, Bobby causes a turnover that costs the team the win, but he helps the team win the next game, ending their long losing streak. The Mud Dogs go on a winning streak and earn a trip to the annual Bourbon Bowl to face the Cougars and Coach Beaulieu. Bobby’s newfound fame and confidence also allows him to reconnect with his childhood crush, Vicki Vallencourt (Fairuza Balk), who has been in prison multiple times. Helen forbids Bobby from seeing her, warning him that girls are “the devil.”
The Waterboy is a 1998 American sports comedy film directed by Frank Coraci (who played Robert ‘Roberto’ Boucher, Sr.), starring Adam Sandler, Kathy Bates, Fairuza Balk, Henry Winkler, Jerry Reed (his last film role before his death in 2008), Larry Gilliard, Jr., Blake Clark, Peter Dante and Jonathan Loughran, and produced by Robert Simonds and Jack Giarraputo.
The Waterboy (1998)
Directed by: Frank Coraci
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kathy Bates, Fairuza Balk, Jerry Reed, Henry Winkler, Blake Clark, Peter Dante, Jonathan Loughran, Clint Howard, Allen Covert
Screenplay by: Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler
Production Design by: Perry Andelin Blake
Cinematography by: Steven Bernstein
Film Editing by: Tom Lewis
Costume Design by: Tom Bronson
Set Decoration by: Barbara Peterson-Malesci
Art Direction by: Alan Au
Music by: Alan Pasqua
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for language and some crude sexual humor.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: November 6, 1998
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