Adam Sandler became known after he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live. He started making movies while still part of that show and he is one of the few that managed to launch a successful movie career. Many of his movies have been rather silly, but still managed to be entertaining. I have seen Billy Madison several times and I do enjoy it for the most part.
Billy Madison was the only son of Brain Madison, a very wealthy man who owned a hotel empire. Billy had no ambition and spent his time living off his father’s money while laying around drunk with his friends. Billy was supposed to gain control of the company when his father retired. Brian was fed up with Billy and felt that he couldn’t run the company, so he decided to turn it over to Eric Gordon, an executive with the company. Billy didn’t like that idea and came up with the idea of going back through school to prove that he could be responsible. Eric was furious when Brian agreed to the idea.
Billy Madison had a very simple plot that didn’t provide any surprises. I did think the general idea of an adult going back to elementary school was rather unique and interesting even though it was silly and unbelievable. Some won’t like the movie because of the silliness and unbelievable aspect of the plot. I did think that the movie was entertaining.
Billy Madison was a comedy, like the majority of the movies that Adam Sandler has made. Most of the humor was rather silly, but it worked for the movie since the plot was silly. The humor will be too silly for some viewers. People who like silly humor may find this movie entertaining since the humor worked. There were a few attempts at humor that didn’t work and seemed to just fall flat, but overall, the humor worked to make an entertaining comedy. There was a musical number at one point that wasn’t exactly funny, but it was silly.
The movie started off showing how Billy tended to spend most of his time so drunk that he ended up chasing an imaginary penguin. His friends were just as bad. I don’t remember there being any drug references in the movie, so I think that Billy and his friends were just getting drunk. Once he learned that Eric was going to get the company instead, Billy started to straighten up and act differently. Once he started back to school, some of his experiences the different grades were shown. He was only spending two weeks in each grade, so there wasn’t a lot of time focused on any of the grades. It was entertaining to see how Billy was dealing with his unique situation. He did end up becoming friends with some of the children and he did things to help them as well.
Billy had a huge crush on Veronica Vaughn, the teacher of the third grade class that he joined. She didn’t think much of Billy at first and seemed to be disgusted by the idea of having him in her class. She did end up changing her mind about him and a romance developed between them after that. There wasn’t much in the way of development for the relationship and it really didn’t detract from the main focus of Billy going back through school. There were a few sexual situations and discussions without there being any actual sex scenes. Several of the characters used profanity and the word that rhymes with luck was used once. That, plus the sexual elements, got the movie rated PG-13.
Billy had a privileged life because of the success of his father’s company. Brian hadn’t expected much from Billy and had even enabled his slacker lifestyle when Billy originally went to school. The company did actually mean something to Billy, which was why he came up with the idea to go back through school. He was smarter than many gave him credit for. He was a nice character who just acted like a jerk for a while. Adam Sandler did well with the part. Norm McDonald turned up in a few scenes as one of Billy’s friends. Chris Farley turned up as a bus driver in a couple of short scenes.
Brian still loved his son even though he was fed up with Billy’s lack of ambition. He decided to give Billy another chance by going along with Billy’s idea. Darren McGavin didn’t have a lot to do since Brian was only in a few scenes here and there. Carl had worked for Brian for years and was very loyal. He didn’t like Eric either and he did what he could to help Billy. Eric was a high level executive with the company who was drooling over the prospect of getting control. He was determined to get control, no matter what he had to do to reach that goal. He was not a nice guy. Bradley Whitford did a really good job with the part, making Eric a huge jerk.
Only a few of the teachers and other students that Billy interacted with were shown. Most of the teachers were barely in the movie and didn’t have much to do. The principal, Max Anderson, turned up in a few different scenes and impacted what was going on. Veronica was the only teacher with much to do since she became Billy’s girlfriend. She wasn’t developed much either, but seemed like a nice woman. Bridgette Wilson was fine in the part.
Main Cast
Darren McGavin - Brian Madison Adam Sandler - Billy Madison Bridgette Wilson - Veronica Vaughn Bradley Whitford - Eric Gordon
Tamra Davis - Director
I think that Billy Madison is available on DVD. If it is, I have no idea what kind of extras are on it. I have seen the movie several times on different television channels. Depending on which one it is on, certain things will be edited out.
Billy Madison was very silly, so it won’t appeal to everyone. I thought it was entertaining and I still watch it when I find it on television. Fans of Adam Sandler may enjoy it.
He s the heir to the Madison Hotel millions but in order to win his father s respect, and his Fortune 500 company, grown-up goof-off Billy must repeat...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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