Movie of the Week

Click to see Waterboys on IMDB

Flying on a plane for 13 hours, I had an opportunity to catch a few movies.  I had to dig through some garbage before I got to this little gem.  Its about 5 high school students in Japan who try to accomplish what they believe in, in the face of ridicule from their peers.

Young Suzuki is the only member of his school's swimming team.  That is until a new coach arrives, who happens to be a gorgeous woman in her 20's.  Of course the tryouts for the swim team goes from 1 to 100.  That is until the boys learn that the type of swimming she coaches is the synchronized kind.

Unfortunately, Suzuki and 4 other boys don't run away as quick as the others and are on the team and have their first performance scheduled.  But the very first day, the teacher learns she's pregnant and takes maternity leave.  With no coach, the boys decide to back out of their show. 

The boys are already considered outsiders in the school, but after constant ribbing from their classmates, their pride takes over.  They decide they're gonna learn synchronized swimming all by themselves and put on a brilliant performance.

The only problem is the school pool has been filled with hundreds of fish for the other boys in school to practice their fishing.  Undeterred, the boys decide to round up all the fish.  Until one gets the bright idea to drain the pool, so they'll be easier to bag.  As you can guess, the boys end up owing a steep bill for all the dead fish as well as re-filling the pool.

This is just one of the many obstacles put in their way.  Not only can they not figure out synchronized swimming, one of the boys can't even swim.  They get so desperate, they trade manual labor at Sea World for synchro coaching from the dolphin trainer (who really has no plans to coach them, just use them for free labor).

This movie isn't exactly groundbreaking in any respects, but it is still great fun.  You have Suzuki, who hasn't got much confidence and is bad with girls even when one comes up and asks HIM out.  You have the cool dude with the huge afro.  (That's right, a huge afro in the pool)  You have a genius who can't swim.  You have a workout freak and then you have a boy that has a crush on one of the other 4.

Of course you aren't surprised when they overcome all the adversity to make it all come together in the end.  But the point is getting there.  And this film is just silly fun.  The scene where the boys first try to show the principal they can do synchronized swimming in order to get their performance rescheduled is one of the funniest things you'll see.

CDWH