The Waterboy
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: November 6, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
41
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
15
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Arguably Sandler's most enjoyable motion picture to date, but it's still far from a masterpiece. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Offers dumb fun without apology. Read full review
60
Washington PostRita Kempley
The Perrier of dumb-and-dumber movies, an effervescent idiot's delight that burbles from the wellspring of silliness inside star Adam Sandler's head. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
This escapist comedy is so cheerfully outlandish that it's hard to resist, and so good-hearted that it's genuinely endearing. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
No one does deranged quite like Kathy Bates (the film's running gag involving Bates and the delicacies of Cajun cuisine is hilarious). Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)John Haslett Cuff
As a satire on the only true religion of the American South -- football -- The Waterboy is a delight. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Stack
An unabashed wallow in the moronic humor of Adam Sandler. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It's not "Billy Madison," quite, but The Waterboy is still pure Sandler. If you like that sort of thing. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
A deluge of funny, inane jokes. Read full review
50
VarietyGlenn Lovell
This yahoos-on-the-bayou farce is neither inventive nor outrageous enough. Read full review
50
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
As funny as it can be, this underdawg comedy isn't much more than Sandler's golf-oriented "Happy Gilmore" with a Cajun accent. [6 November 1998, p. 10E]
40
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Another film about . . . a cretinous, grating loser. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
Geek-triumphs-after-all comedies can be charming, but in this one the triumphing begins so early it's hard to feel for the geek. Read full review
40
EmpireCaroline Westbrook
Perfectly watchable, undemanding fun, but you can't help thinking that a slightly darker tone would have gone a very long way. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
Of course it's dumb, but every 10 minutes or so, it's also pretty funny. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJohn Anderson
Follows a leadenly predictable path that will be more than familiar to anyone who's seen a recent sports movie, or any Sandler movie. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubJoshua Klein
A mess of bad timing, bad jokes, and bad ideas so lame that even Sandler's idiot man-child mugging can't enliven the proceedings. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Sandler is making a tactical error when he creates a character whose manner and voice has the effect of fingernails on a blackboard, and then expects us to hang in there for a whole movie. Read full review
25
New York Daily NewsDavid Kehr
Working a lisping Southern accent that sounds like Truman Capote on Seconal, Sandler plays Bobby Boucher, a swamp-dwelling Cajun. [6 November 1998, p. 56]
20
Film ThreatRon Wells
A stupid summer movie. Read full review
16
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Becomes yet another lame sports farce. Read full review
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