After being summarily dismissed from the flagship state university, Boucher seeks employment with a smaller, in-state institution. It is soon discovered that he can channel his pent-up aggressions over having been mistreated and picked on for many years into a viciousness on the football field. He inevitably becomes the team's heart and soul, leading the team to its first victory in several years as the SCLSU Muddogs strive to overcome their ineptitude and total lack of talent. The culmination is, as expected, an all-too-common David vs. Goliath showdown with the team from which he was fired. Though there are absolutely no surprises to be found here, the movie is quite entertaining and fun to watch, especially with friends who enjoy football and typical "guy" humor.
For those of us who live in Louisiana, there is a bit of disturbing stereotyping portrayed in The Waterboy that may cause some to take offense. Believe it or not, we do not all live in shacks on the bayou with various stuffed animals adorning our walls, nor do we all speak in unintelligible multi-cultural dialects. That being said, there are generally reasons for the creation of stereotypes, and backwoods bayous and Cajun accents are wonderful parts of our heritage, as is our unmatched love for the game of football. The biggest slap in the face, at least to me as a resident of this great state, is the fact that a movie which features so much of our "culture" would be filmed in Florida. If you are going to pick on us, come on down and enjoy the food while you do so, spending the production monies here. We can laugh at ourselves easily enough, especially if we are getting paid to do so. Ok, off the soapbox...
Aside from Sandler and his normal crew of cronies which appear in almost all of his films, several notable actors lent their talents to this movie. Kathy Bates does a fantastic job as "Mama" Boucher. Henry Winkler and Jerry Reed do admirable jobs as the head football coaches of the two opposing teams, while Fairuza Balk stars as Bobby's sexy, and just a bit scary, love interest. As with most Sandler films, viewers can also expect quite a few cameo appearances. Despite my issues with the portrayal of Louisiana culture, I still find The Waterboy highly amusing and have viewed it repeatedly. As a Blu-ray offering, the only real improvement I noted over simply watching an up-converted DVD version was the soundtrack. All of the sounds were crisper and clearer, the music was better and the overall feel of the movie was improved. Sadly, there are no special features included on the Blu-ray disc, which in today's market, is almost unforgivable. For those fans of the movie that already own a copy on standard DVD, I am not sure that the sound quality improvement justifies the purchase of the Blu-ray. For those that do not yet own a copy, Blu-ray might be worth it in the long run, but do not purchase Blu-ray over standard expecting any additional content.
