Though he’s hardly been the zenith of critical acclaim over the years, there’s a reason that Adam Sandler is so popular. While in recent years his work has been flavoured by a depressing level of inconsistency – as seems to be true in his latest film, That’s My Boy, in cinemas Friday, he has made his share of uproariously funny films. You’ll notice, of course, that his very best films, such as The Wedding Singer and Happy Gilmore, aren’t featured in this list, and that’s because, like his countless flops (Grown Ups, Jack and Jill etc), they are appropriately rated as such. This list aims to trace those under-appreciated Sandler films that defied either critical or commercial failure and have amassed cult followings.

 

8. The Waterboy (1998)

The Waterboy features one of Sandler’s more demented performances as Bobby Boucher Jr, the stuttering, socially awkward water boy who becomes a football player against the wishes of his overbearing mother (Kathy Bates). It is one of Sandler’s most enduring films if only because a one-liner spouted by Rob Schneider’s character – “You can do it!” – has figured in countless Sandler flicks since. Sandler milks the ridiculous voices and goofball grimace (pictured above) that has essentially kept him sitting rich, but it’s the plot’s twisted barminess that keeps the laughs coming thick and fast, such as Bobby becoming a water boy because his father apparently died of dehydration in the Sahara Desert. It has a genuinely likeable goofiness to it, and is one of his more child-friendly flicks (if we forget about his recent failures like Bedtime Stories). Despite racking up $185m at the box office, it scored only 32% on Rotten Tomatoes.

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