The Waterboy is a 1998 American sports comedy film directed by Frank Coraci. It was written by Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy, and produced by Robert Simonds and Jack Giarraputo. Sandler also stars as the title character, while Kathy Bates, Fairuza Balk, Henry Winkler, Jerry Reed, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Blake Clark, Peter Dante, and Jonathan Loughran play other characters.