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 a 27 year-old man whose father Brian is the head of a major hotel chain. Even though he is groomed to replace his father who is about to retire, Billy is extremely immature and unmotivated in life. When Brian considers making Eric Gordon (whom Billy despises) his new replacement, Billy decides to prove to his father that he is capable of taking over. He must repeat grade school all over again (2 weeks for each grade) in order to take over the hotel empire. The further Billy progresses, the more Eric tries to derail Billy.

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Plot Keywords:

school teacher | hero | heroine | evil man | villain | 

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Taglines:

A comedy about an overwhelming underachiever.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language and crude humor

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Spanish

Release Date:

10 February 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Billy Madison

Filming Locations:

Northern Secondary School, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,639,080, 12 February 1995

Gross USA:

$25,588,734

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$26,488,734

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Robert Simonds Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At the Academic Decathlon, Billy Madison ends his uneducated Industrial Revulotion speech by yelling "Knibb High School Football rules!" which ends an awkward silence and the crowd erupts in cheers. The same thing happens in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) where a high school student (Ox Robbins) ends his uneducated speech with "San Dimas High School Football rules!" also ending an awkward silence and the crowd erupts in cheers.

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Goofs

When Jack is spraying a boy with a hose at one of Billy's "graduation" parties, you can hear the boy talking but his lips aren't moving.

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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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Alternate Versions

The Australian network TV version cuts out the line "You gotta get out there, and find that fuckin' dog!" that Billy says commenting on the book "The Puppy Who Lost His Way" to reduce the M rating to a PG. Cable and Video/DVD versions are unchanged.

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

Telephone Line
Written by Jeff Lynne
Performed by Electric Light Orchestra
Courtesy of Epic Records
by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Not ashamed to say this was really funny

Looking at some of the reviews here reinforces the fact that there are certain people that like different types of humor. If stupid humor makes you laugh, this is your comedy. If you like stale British cerebral humor, maybe you should stay far away from this. I'm sure we all have our favorite and unfavorite comedians. I happen to like Sandler because he is immaturely funny. I think Dave Chapelle's show is pretty damn funny too. I never thought Sam Kinison was funny (the screaming is annoying) nor do I care for Chris Tucker.

I saw Billy Madison at the theater, a friend and myself and the 8 other guys randomly scattered around the seating area found this to be pretty damn hilarious. I laughed at about 8 different scenes and that is a lot for me for any one movie. I still laugh at a few of the scenes when I see repeats and yes I have it on video.

Those of you who dislike this movie are more than likely too old and stuck on your Bob Hope type era comedians and refuse to admit any others. Sandler isn't the greatest comedian who ever lived but his shtick was fresh and original when this movie came out. I have a video of him back when he did stand up and the guy is brilliant.

Again, people who get easily annoyed and upset with the stupid type humor steer clear of this movie and save yourself the aggravation that these sad negative reviewers subjected themselves to.