The Waterboy

I feel enough like an idiot in my day-to-day life that I don't need the added guilt of liking movies that critics hate. So now, to hold those dark hounds of self-loathing at bay, every time I laugh my ass off at some wonderfully moronic, lowbrow comedy, I think of that old Luther Ingram R&B lyric: ''If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right.''

While that mantra may be my own sad crutch, judging from how well some panned flicks do at the box office, I'm obviously not alone. Take "The Waterboy": Adam Sandler may send reviewers into twitching hissy fits, but the movie's $159 million-plus gross proves that some things are just plain critic-proof.

Of course, Sandler isn't the first comedian to override a chorus of downward-pointing thumbs -- he's just the latest in a line that traces way back to before Roger Ebert was in short pants. But the essence of Sandler's doofus appeal is that he tickles the inner geek in all men who haven't outgrown comic books and the ''Three Stooges.'' Sandler's half-witted Cajun mama's boy, Bobby Boucher, snaps a gasket after being taunted by the football players he hydrates. But when the moron opens his ''can of whup-ass,'' they realize that within this inbred hick is an all-pro linebacker. Part of the fun of watching Sandler is cracking up when you know you shouldn't, but you just can't help yourself. The critics were dead-on when they said ''The Waterboy'' is mindless and idiotic -- but if laughing is wrong, then what's the point of being right?

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