Billy Madison

Billy Madison
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Tamra Davis
Produced by Robert Simonds
Written by Adam Sandler
Tim Herlihy
Starring
Music by Randy Edelman
Cinematography Victor Hammer
Edited by John Gilroy
Jeffrey Wolf
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
 February 10, 1995 (1995-02-10)
Running time
 89 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $10 million[1]
Box office $26.4 million[1]

Billy Madison is a 1995 American comedy film directed by Tamra Davis. It stars Adam Sandler, Bradley Whitford, Bridgette Wilson, Norm Macdonald, in his feature film debut and Darren McGavin. The film was written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy, and produced by Robert Simonds. It made over $26.4 million worldwide and debuted at number one at the box office.[1] The film received negative reviews from critics.[2][3]

Plot

Billy Madison is the 27-year-old heir to a Fortune 500 hotel company that his father, Brian, founded. He spends his days drinking with friends and creating disturbances across his father's estate. One day, Billy ruins a dinner meeting between his father and his associates by acting obnoxiously. Brian loses confidence in his son and chooses the conniving Eric Gordon as his successor. When Billy begs his father to reconsider his decision, Brian reveals that he secretly bribed Billy's school teachers to give him passing grades. The two finally compromise: Billy must complete all 12 grades in two-week intervals to prove he is competent enough to manage the company.

Shortly after enrolling into school, Billy becomes attracted to a teacher named Veronica Vaughn, who initially ignores him. Nevertheless, Billy successfully progresses through his first two grades. He finds himself as one of Veronica's students in the third grade and earns her respect by standing up for Ernie, his friend and classmate. Billy becomes popular among the third graders and misses them as he advances through school. Billy's progress alarms Eric, who becomes increasingly agitated as Billy completes each grade. Eric blackmails principal Max Anderson into claiming that Billy bribed him for passing grades, with pictures of Anderson's previous career as a masked wrestler who accidentally killed a man in the ring.

Brian swiftly terminates his agreement with Billy and renames Eric as his successor. Billy grows distraught and reverts to his carefree lifestyle. Veronica motivates him to return to school, while his grade school classmates convince Max to retract his bribery accusations. Brian agrees to give Billy another chance but Eric cites that Billy failed the challenge by taking more than two weeks to complete a grade. He then threatens to sue Brian if he does not pass the company onto him. Billy intervenes and challenges Eric to an academic decathlon to finally settle their feud with the winner getting to run the company.

Both men excel in different activities but Billy manages to take a single-point lead before the contest's final event, a Jeopardy!-style academic test. Billy stumbles on the opening question in the event, and Eric is given the chance to win the contest by answering a question about business ethics. Eric, being a highly unscrupulous businessman, cannot conceive of an answer and breaks down. He brandishes a handgun, but Max (in his wrestling gear) tackles Eric before he can harm Billy. Eric recovers from the attack and attempts to shoot Veronica, but he is shot by Danny McGrath, a rifle-wielding madman whom Billy apologized to earlier for bullying him.

At his graduation ceremony, Billy announces he will pass the hotel business to Carl Alphonse, one of his father's more polite businessmen, and attend college in order to become a teacher. Eric watches on and fumes in frustration over Billy's decision.

Cast

Reception

Critical response

On the film review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 46% based on 39 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Billy Madison is typical early immature fare from Adam Sandler, even if it finds moments of inspired lunacy."[2] On Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 16 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".[3]

Richard Schickel panned the film, calling it "one of the most execrable movies ever made".[4] Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times commented; "Sandler has a bad habit of thinking he is funnier than we are".[5] On At the Movies, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert both gave the film thumbs down, and Roger Ebert said of Sandler, "...Not an attractive screen presence, he might have a career as a villain or a fall guy or the butt of a joke, but as the protagonist his problem is he creates the fingernails on the blackboard." Gene Siskel added "...you don't have a good motivation for the character's behavior". Owen Gleiberman also panned the film, saying "By the end, you feel like a drill sergeant—you want to wipe that stupid grin off Sandler's face".[6] Rita Kempley of The Washington Post said the film was trying to be "A more kid-friendly version of 'Dumb and Dumber.' And there's even a moral: 'Yahoo for education,' though the movie doesn't really put any muscle behind it."[7]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times gave the film a mixed review, saying "It succeeds as a reasonably smart no-brainer. If you've ever had a yearning to relive the third grade, this must be the next best thing."[8] Brian Lowry of Variety also gave the film a mixed review, saying "There are a few bursts of sheer, irresistible idiocy—along the lines of 'Wayne's World' or even 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure'—but not enough to sustain the more arid stretches."[9]

Billy Mowbray of Film4 gave the film a positive review, writing: "When you get that Sandler's comedic persona is meant to be annoying, like Beavis and Butthead or Cartman, the laughs come thick and fast".[10] Kevin N. Laforest said, "Okay, the plot is inane, but it's the basis of a series of really funny scenes."[11]

Award nominations

Year Award Category Result
1995 MTV Movie Awards Best Comedic Performance - Adam Sandler Nominated

Music

Songs featured in the film

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Billy Madison". Box Office Mojo.
  2. 1 2 "Billy Madison (1995)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media.
  3. 1 2 "Billy Madison Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  4. ↑ Schickel, Richard (March 1995). "Billy Madison Review". Time.
  5. ↑ Rainer, Peter (February 11, 1995). "MOVIE REVIEW: No New Lessons When 'Billy' Goes Back to Public School". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-07.
  6. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (February 24, 1995). "Billy Madison". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  7. ↑ Kempley, Rita (February 11, 1995). "Billy Madison". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  8. ↑ Maslin, Janet (February 11, 1995). "FILM REVIEW; Repeating Grades 1-12: Do the Daiquiris Help?". Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  9. ↑ Lowry, Brian (February 12, 1995). "Review: 'Billy Madison'". Variety. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  10. ↑ Mowbray, Billy. "Billy Madison Review". Channel 4. Archived from the original on October 15, 2003. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  11. ↑ Laforest, Kevin (May 1, 2002). "Billy Madison". Montreal Film Journal. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
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