Touches You

Pretty Good

Good concept, poorly executed.

best movie i've ever seen.

Waterboys is a zany, sweet comedy about a group of boys who get roped into starting a synchronised swimming team, and then have to get together a routine for an exhibition in a few weeks time! It's fun stuff that aims low and hits hard. There are lots of great sight gags and other slapstick comedy, but there's also an interesting love story and fantastic acting from the boys.The film rolls along at a great pace, with Yaguchi a talented director treating us to lengthy tracking shots and other technical flourishes. The film never bores and always pleases, and as we head towards the climax, the comedy keeps coming, and the final 'routine' will delight you with its genius. A fun, endlessly rewatchable madcap comedy.

Yaguchi Shinobu is quickly becoming one of my favorite Japanese directors. His movies don't pretend to have any agenda other than entertaining audiences. I enjoyed both his "Adrenaline Drive" and "Swing Girls" a lot and consider them some of my all-time favorite movies. "Waterboys" was made in-between the two aforementioned films, and while it shares the same type of lighthearted drama and infectious comedy of the others, I didn't quite warm up to it as much as the other films. Perhaps it has to do more with the subject matter at hand then anything else. I didn't find the humor behind an all male "synchro" swim team all that hilarious. Granted there are a lot of funny scenes in the movie especially when "Shall We Dance's" Takenaka Naoto begins training the boys using some very unconventional methods, like using the game "Dance Dance Revolution" to give the boys dance rhythm or using dolphin training exercises to improve their swimming. The ending performance was a bit painful to watch and many may cringe at the sight of skinny kids dancing to the J-Pop music of Puffy and Finger Five. That being said, I found "Waterboys" to be an enjoyable movie and while I don't like it as much as "Swing Girls", it certainly is another feather in the cap of director Yaguchi. Here's hoping he continues to make great and fun movies.

I love the characters in this movie. Suzuki's the only guy left on the swim team (because its really that bad). He's on the verge of deciding he's pretty worthless when a few things happen to spice up his life. A female teacher comes to the all male school to be a swim instructor and the boys come out in drones. Haha funny part is that she didn't know it was an all boys school and she intended to start a synchronized swimming team, but that is unheard of for guys to do it - it's laughable.So there you have Suzuki, Sato a kid with an afro who claims to have dumped the basketball team to swim, Ohta the one joining the team to get buff, Kanazawa a math nerd that feels the need to learn to swim and stay afloat because of the science in it, and Saotome the guy who has an eye on one of the swim team.They have a few disasters before actually getting to the synchro performance, you watch the friendships build and good things finally happening for the misfits. It's a really enjoyable funny film.

"Waterboys" is the featured film on the opening night in this year's Eiga Sai in Manila. I didn't anticipate I would be laughing my toxins out. It's a hilarious movie. I thought I'd never laugh so hard again after watching a Charlie Chaplin movie years back. This Japanese film is incredibly and enjoyably funny. It totally amazes me how the Japanese are able to evoke the whole range of emotions in their audience, i.e., laughter in comedy films, profound sadness in drama. (I still haven't gotten over the heartache from watching "Grave of the Fireflies".) "Waterboys" has a very simple plot. It would have been banal and jejune in the hands of an ordinary storyteller. The storytelling technique was effortless, but the use of slow motion matched with a perfect comedic timing produced a remarkably hilarious film. To be able to make people laugh from one's belly and in so many continuous fractions of a minute is a gift. "Waterboys" cast and crew are gifted. I've never cracked up so hard in my whole life. The adrenalin kick from watching it is yet to subside. One disadvantage: I don't know if any Hollywood comedy films can ever make me laugh again.