“Well I like school, and I like football, and I’m gonna keep doin’ ‘em both because they make me feel good!”
It’s easy to sympathize with Bobby Boucher. He’s been sheltered to a rather unhealthy degree his entire life, with so much potential for something more. A rather culturally clueless and socially naïve individual, Boucher nevertheless has more than a healthy helping of tenderness to give, if only given the opportunity. At his core, he just loves helping people, but consistent harassment and gales of stupid laughter from most everyone he lends a helping hand to only serve to inspire Darkman-style bursts of superhuman fury. And that’s just what this team needs!
You didn’t come in here for a theoretical analysis of this flick from eleven years ago. Frankly I’m not sure what you’d be interested in hearing about The Waterboy more than a decade after its release. It’s a damn funny movie, but certainly nowhere near Adam Sandler’s best comedy, nor even director Frank Coraci’s best Sandler collaboration (Click nips it in the bud). The Waterboy does, however, easily beat out the same year’s The Wedding Singer in terms of lasting appeal, despite that film’s bewildering cult status. It’s a film that seemingly dozens of times over asks us the burning question, “How many times can a potentially paralyzing hit be funny?” The answer, of course, is “Just about however many times it wants to be.”
More than likely, 90% of you out there reading this have seen the film and are just wondering if you should plunk down the downright stupid forty dollar MSRP for the Blu-ray. The answer is simple: if you truly, honestly, for real, without the most infinitesimal sliver of doubt love the Goddamn out of The Waterboy, the disc still isn’t worth the insane cost and can easily be found cheaper most anywhere. With the state our economy’s in right now, Disney should be downright ashamed to put out an Adam Sandler catalogue title for the cost of four tickets to Funny People. And it also begs the question, “Do we even need a Blu-ray of The Waterboy?” I can imagine a section of the HD-capable population wanting to revisit the film, as it’s rarely shown on TV anymore and has weirdly faded into minor obscurity. But while Bobby’s admirable displays of heartfelt defense on and off the football field have endured better than most 90s sports comedy routines, the simple fact of the matter is Disney must be out of their freakin’ minds to expect even average sales numbers at this price. Now let’s look at the disc itself, hm?
Blu-ray Picture and Sound:
Keep in mind while I go through this, that The Waterboy will never look saintly on any format. It was never meant to, and because of its intentionally bland color palate and grainy texture it’s never going to translate to a reference-quality HD experience. But the film DOES look good in HD, better than I expected it to, even. The intended look and feel of the film is well preserved and facets like skin detail and tone come across just fine. If you absolutely have to have your comedy collection look about as good as your action rack, this isn’t a terrible place to start.
The sound, on the other hand, is as bone-crunchingly devastating as it was ever meant to be. Every hit comes across with a perfectly “Oooohh shit,” level of clarity even on a mediocre or worse setup. And the down-home southern rock soundtrack is every bit as campy and infectious as it was in 1998.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Things kick off with a sleek case with a shiny plastic sleeve over the packaging art, keeping it free from harm. Next, when you put the disc in your player, get ready for the wave of the future with ANIMATED MENUS and CATCHY THEME MUSIC! Yeah, there’s absolutely nothing here whatsoever. And I'm docking a point from my final score for expecting people to pay the retail for this sucker. I'm talking to you, Disney.
"The Waterboy" is on sale August 4, 2009 and is rated PG13. Comedy, Sports. Directed by Frank Coraci. Written by Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler. Starring Adam Sandler, Fairuza Balk, Henry Winkler, Kathy Bates.
