Billy Madison (1995)

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

Director:

Tamra Davis

Writers:

Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler

Stars:

Adam Sandler, Darren McGavin, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adam Sandler	...	Billy Madison
Darren McGavin	...	Brian Madison
Bridgette Wilson-Sampras	...	Veronica Vaughn (as Bridgette Wilson)
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

Storyline

Billy Madison is the 27 year-old son of Bryan Madison, a very rich man who has made his living in the hotel industry. Billy stands to inherit his father's empire but only if he can make it through all 12 grades, 2 weeks per grade, to prove that he has what it takes to run the family business.

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Plot Keywords:

teacher | family business | education | school teacher | high school | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language and crude humor

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Spanish

Release Date:

10 February 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bili Medison

Filming Locations:

Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$25,588,750 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Robert Simonds Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The lunch lady serving sloppy joes is a reference to Adam Sandler's popular song "Lunch Lady Land", which is from his 1993 album, "They're All Gonna Laugh At You".

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Goofs

In the music portion of the academic decathlon, Billy plays his clarinet backwards. The reed is supposed to rest on the bottom lip, not the top lip. We assume Billy does know how to play the clarinet, or has at least played one before, as one was in his tent, and therefore he would know how to hold it.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Deion Sanders/Bon Jovi (1995)

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Soundtracks

"I'm Not The One"
Written by Ric Ocasek (as Rick Ocasek)
Performed by The Cars
Courtesy of Elektra Entertainment
by arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

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