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Individualmoviereview 1
Individualmoviereview 1
November 6, 1998. It was directed by Frank Coraci, a director most commonly known
for his work with Adam Sandler. The movie was initially seen by many as a failure in
progress. Critics believed that the movie lacked good actors and theatrics. Most
professional movie critics usually assess a movie based on its theatrics, acting skills,
and visual effectiveness. Additionally, they stated that the movie was predictable and
only attracted people who enjoyed dumb humor. Many also said that it would not stack
up with previous Adam Sandler movies. However, the critics could not have been more
wrong. The movie was a great success and ended up defying the beliefs of the critics.
The movie brought in a massive one hundred eighty six million dollars from a budget of
twenty three million dollars. The movie was such a success with the public that it even
made a record as the largest grossing sports movie at the time. In modern times, it still
holds an impressive third place out of all sports movies and is still the number one
complex issues and ideas of a college aged person. The movie is focused around the
main character Bobby Boucher who begins the movie off as a waterboy for the
University of Louisiana, until he is eventually fired by the head coach. After this Boucher
university. Therefore, he applied and was accepted as the waterboy for at another
university (SCLSU). While there the coach teaches Bobby that he needs to let out his
frustration and stand up for himself, which led to an unbelievable result. He ended up
tackling one of the players, who was taunting him, so hard that he was recruited to
become a linebacker for the university. This was the point at which Bobby Boucher
entered the college life and his life would be changed for the better.
he struggled with fitting in on and off the football field. Boucher had always had poor
social skills and had experienced bullying all throughout his life. This movie address the
problems and obstacles that students must overcome to be successful in the college
environment. It also reflects on how his education changed him and helped him to be
more confident and to help become more accepted by his peers and society as a whole.
The Waterboy also helped to show the profound benefits, both socially and mentally of
attending college. For example, Bobby Boucher entered college with no social skills and
with minimal education due to being home schooled by his mother. This home
schooling from his mama was more of a brainwashing tactic to prevent Bobby from
ever leaving her. He was poorly educated and what little he thought he knew turned out
to be propagated by his mama. Due to his lack of social skills and a proper education,
Bobby was unable to realize his potential and excel until he entered college.
However, after realizing his potential he gained confidence and was quickly able
to excelled in his classes. His college education proved especially invaluable when it
was discovered that Bobby had never actually attended high school and therefore had
never graduate with a diploma. This being a requirement to be on the football team,
made him ineligible to play and therefore the team lost their best player. However, due
to what he had learned from his college education he was able to take an equivalency
test to get his GED so that he could play in the championship game, the Bourbon Bowl.
With his knowledge that was attained via college, he was able to ace the equivalency
test with a ninety seven percent. Through these experiences Bobby Boucher is able to
discover his potential. Therefore, this movie represents college level education as a way
The movie also represents college education as a way to improve your standings
with others. Such as with Boucher and how he is able to greatly improve his social skills
and even become popular in his college and among his fellow town members his and
other peers. However, the movie also represents some negative or uncommon aspects
of college life. Some examples include; the bullying that occurred toward Bobby, and the
change in personal beliefs or understanding of how life or society functions. The later
example is first noticed in the classroom scene when Bobby Boucher believed the
reason why alligators experience anger, is because they can not brush their teeth.
However, as he learns from the class that his prior knowledge and understandings
might be wrong or could potentially change. Most of his wrong conceptions or beliefs
came from the sheltered way he was raised by his mother. Additionally, she would
propagate facts such as the example before which would mislead her son. Once he
learn of his mothers misinformed knowledge, he quickly began to accept other facts.
This changed his viewpoints and perspective on multiple stances. This effect of college
education helped him to not only advance further as a person, but also to advance as a
student. Therefore, without the knowledge Bobby Boucher learned from his college
classes he would have been unable to have been as successful as he was in the movie.
The typical conventions of a movie review include an introduction to the story, a
synopsis, and a back story on the initial reviews of the movie. The movie reviewers also
usually place their input on reasons why other critics might have felt a certain way.
These genre conventions help to bring together the different aspects of this paper and
allow it to properly explain the results of college education as seen in The Waterboy.
Reference
Coraci, F. (Director). (1998). The Waterboy [Motion picture on DVD]. United States.