In order to inherit his fed-up father Brian's hotel empire, immature and lazy Billy Madison must repeat grades one through twelve all over again. The further Billy progresses, the harder his... Read allIn order to inherit his fed-up father Brian's hotel empire, immature and lazy Billy Madison must repeat grades one through twelve all over again. The further Billy progresses, the harder his hated rival Eric Gordon tries to stop him.In order to inherit his fed-up father Brian's hotel empire, immature and lazy Billy Madison must repeat grades one through twelve all over again. The further Billy progresses, the harder his hated rival Eric Gordon tries to stop him.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
- Veronica Vaughn
- (as Bridgette Wilson)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDuring the school bus scene, Chris Farley turning bright red in aggravation was improvised, according to Adam Sandler in I Am Chris Farley (2015). Chris, before filming that scene, downed six entire cups of espressos. He would do that in most of his other movies to maintain his trademark manic energy.
- GoofsWhen Billy is dialing the phone to call the guy he picked on in high school, a phone can be heard ringing.
This is part of the song being played.
- Quotes
Principal: Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
- Alternate versionsIn some edited-for-tv versions of the film, during the Jeopardy game at the end of the film, the scene of the host reading the "burning dog poo and the human response" clue has been removed. However, the clue can still be seen on the board in distant shots.
- SoundtracksTelephone Line
Written by Jeff Lynne
Performed by Electric Light Orchestra
Courtesy of Epic Records
by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
We can expect what ensues.
Basically, the film has a decent premise. It may be thrown together a bit sloppy at times, but overall it is good. The thing that is bad about this movie, is the characters, the dialogue, and the film's progress.
There are some laughs in the beginning, but I didn't find the addition of Norm MacDonald very funny, nor did I think it great how the teacher who hates Billy is suddenly, for no reason whatsoever, willing to take off her clothes for him.
There are some great cameos in this movie, especially the always-enjoyable Steve Buscemi. Unfortunately, his short appearance cannot make up for the bad flow, dialogue and character progression in Billy Madison.
Sure, the film has its laugh-out-loud moments, but not enough, and when it all comes down to it, the film has a half-baked, sentimental ending thrown in to enthuse the easily-pleased, and never really focuses on all the laughs it could have achieved throughout its scenes. It seems to take the lowest amount of jokes considering, and look at them as "look how many jokes we have," instead of "look how many more jokes we could have had."
In the end, what could have been an interesting and lively comedy resorts to typical Sandler fare, and nothing more.
My summary: worth seeing, but not great.
2.5/5 stars -
John Ulmer
- MovieAddict2016
- Feb 6, 2003
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Tonto pero no tanto
- Filming locations
- Parkwood Estate, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada(Billy's mansion: exterior, and grounds)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $10,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $25,588,734
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $6,639,080
- Feb 12, 1995
- Gross worldwide
- $26,488,734
- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1