Billy Madison (1995)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Tamra Davis

Writers (WGA):

Tim Herlihy (written by) &
Adam Sandler (written by)

Release Date:

10 February 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

To inherit his family's fortune, Billy is going back to school... Way back.

Plot:

In order to inherit his fed up father's hotel empire, an immature and lazy man must repeat grades 1-12 all over again.

Plot Keywords:

Teacher | Family Business | High School | Education | School Teacher

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Adam Sandler	...	Billy Madison
Darren McGavin	...	Brian Madison
Bridgette Wilson	...	Veronica Vaughn
Bradley Whitford	...	Eric Gordon
Josh Mostel	...	Principal Max Anderson
Norm MacDonald	...	Frank
Mark Beltzman	...	Jack
Larry Hankin	...	Carl Alphonse
Theresa Merritt	...	Juanita
Dina Platias	...	Miss Lippy
Hrant Alianak	...	Pete
Vincent Marino	...	Cook
Jack Mather	...	Ted 'Old Man' Clemens
Christopher Kelk	...	Rollo the Janitor
Marc Donato	...	Nodding 1st Grader

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language and crude humor.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

South Korea:12 (DVD rating) | South Korea:All | Philippines:PG-13 | UK:12 (DVD rating: 2008) (uncut) | Australia:M | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG | Singapore:PG | UK:PG (cut) | USA:PG-13 | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Norm MacDonald's film debut.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Eric gets angry that Max revealed his secret about being a wrestler, he throws his stapler at his secretary but when the noise of her getting hit goes off the stapler is already on the ground.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Billy Madison: [sings] # Suntan lotion is good for me. / You protect me, hee-hee-hee. #

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Bad Boys of Saturday Night Live (1998) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Cheap Thrills

Release your inner six-year-old before watching.

Billy Madison was Adam Sandler's first popular movie. The film has a highly appealing premise, with somewhat poor execution. Some of the gags are knee-slapping funny, while others will make you feel embarrassed for watching the movie. It's clear that the cast is having a good time playing in the movie, and that is one of the things you can easily respect the film for. I'm personally glad that Adam Sandler doesn't play this kind of character any more (an annoying retard with a bizarre speech impediment, which he would later reprise, though somewhat differently, in The Waterboy, Little Nicky, and Eight Crazy Nights).

This occasionally funny comedy follows Billy Madison (Adam Sandler), who is the loser son of a billionaire. He only graduated school because his father payed his teachers to give him decent grades, and he is currently the heir to his father's major hotel company. But when Billy finds out that his father is giving the company to one of Billy's enemies, Billy makes a deal. He'll go back to grades 1-12, in 24 weeks, and pass the classes, so that he can prove to his dad that he can run the company. Predictable comedy ensues as Billy tries to fit in with his classmates (he fits in better with the first through third graders better than the more mature grades ironically), and his rival tries to foil Billy's plan.

The film has really low quality humor that should belong in a dumb kids movie if only much of it wasn't so dirty. The film somewhat lacks a target audience. It would be highly enjoyed by young kids, but the jokes aren't exactly suitable for that age, while most people over thirteen who see the movie, may find it too stupid for them (However, there will be many exceptions there). Much of the humor comes from Billy acting like a seven-year-old, talking like a baby and/or in gibberish. Another gag involves some rather graphic depictions of the classic "flaming bag of Pooh," prank. One running gag that proves tiresome after the first time involves an imaginary giant penguin that Billy sees and tries to chase whenever he gets too drunk. However, the late, and greatly missed Chris Farley has a rather hilarious cameo as a bus driver who seems likely to go on a homicidal shooting spree at any second. His character probably wouldn't seem as funny to me if I didn't miss Chris so much, but I guess I'll never know. My mean spirited sense of humor however, finds it very funny when little kids swear or are exposed to swearing, so I laughed quite a bit at one rather shocking moment in which Billy rants about the flaws of a children's book in front of a group of first grade kids. Some of the gags are sweet as well as funny, and one of the best of which actually involves bodily fluids. The film, as you can tell from what I just said, can be quite funny, but is overall very tiresome. I award this film 6/10.

It is rated PG-13 for Language and Crude Humor. Sex: 5/10 Violence: 4/10 Swearing: 5/10 Drugs: 5/10