Billy Madison
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| Billy Madison | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Tamra Davis |
| Produced by | Robert Simonds |
| Written by | Adam Sandler Tim Herlihy |
| Starring | Adam Sandler Darren McGavin Bridgette Wilson Bradley Whitford Josh Mostel Norm Macdonald Steve Buscemi Chris Farley |
| Music by | Randy Edelman |
| Cinematography | Victor Hammer |
| Editing by | John Gilroy |
| Distributed by | Universal Studios |
| Release date(s) | February 10, 1995 |
| Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Gross revenue | $25,588,750 |
Billy Madison is a 1995 comedy film starring Adam Sandler in the title role about a slacker who must go back to school in order to take over his father's company. The comedy also features Bradley Whitford, Josh Mostel, Bridgette Wilson, Chris Farley, Norm Macdonald, Steve Buscemi and Darren McGavin. It was written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy, directed by Tamra Davis, and produced by Universal Studios. It made $25 million worldwide.
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[edit] Plot
27-year-old Billy Madison (Adam Sandler) has spent his entire life reaping the benefits of his father's hotel chain. He spends his days drinking with friends Jack (Mark Beltzman) and Frank (Norm Macdonald), and creating disturbances across his father's estate. One day, Billy ruins a dinner meeting between his father, Brian (Darren McGavin), and his associates by acting obnoxiously. This prompts his father to lose faith in his son, and choose the conniving Eric Gordon (Bradley Whitford) to become the next chief of the hotel. Brian reveals that he secretly bribed Billy's school teachers to pass his son. Billy, who despises Eric, begs his father to reconsider his decision. The two finally come to compromise; Billy must pass elementary, junior high, and high school on his own within the course of twenty-four weeks (two weeks per grade), in order to prove his competence.
Shortly after enrolling into school, Billy becomes attracted to a teacher named Veronica Vaughn (Bridgette Wilson), who initially attempts to ignore him. Nevertheless, Billy successfully progresses through his first two grades. He eventually finds himself as one of Vaughn's students in the third grade. He manages to earn her respect by defending Ernie, his friend and classmate. Billy becomes popular among the third graders, and misses them as he advances through school. Billy's development and progression alarms Eric, who becomes increasingly agitated as Billy completes each grade. Eric takes the offensive while Billy struggles in high school. He visits Billy's grade school principal, Max Anderson (Josh Mostel), and makes numerous references to his controversial past as a professional wrestler (including one which he accidentally caused the death of another man while performing a stunt) that could threaten Max's education career. Coerced, Max publicly states he took bribes from Billy in return for passing Billy to the next grade.
The announcement angers Brian, who chooses to give the hotel chain to Eric. Billy becomes distraught, and reverts to his original care-free lifestyle. Veronica, many school children, and other random characters from previous scenes come to Billy's aid, and forcefully motivate him to keep fighting Eric. He returns to school and begins to study again. However, Billy realizes that he must reclaim the hotel chain. His grade school friends visit Max at his home and convince him to retract his accusations. Brian argues to Eric that Billy deserves another chance, but Eric disagrees and threatens to file a law suit. Billy challenges Eric to an academic decathlon that will determine his father's successor. Although both men excel in different activities, Billy manages to take a single-point lead before the contest's final event, a Jeopardy!-style academic test. Billy attempts to win the contest by answering a question pertaining to the Industrial Revolution. Billy answers the question by presenting an elongated comparison to a children's book that was read to him earlier in the film. The contest's host voices disgust at the answer, telling Billy that "everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it."
Eric is then given the chance to answer a question, and potentially win the contest, however he is ironically asked to answer a question about business ethics. Eric cannot answer the question, and begins to break down. Refusing to admit defeat, he brandishes a gun, but Max, clad in his wrestling outfit, subdues Eric. The attack fails to keep Eric down; he makes a final attempt to get back at Billy by turning his gun on Veronica. Fortunately, rifle-wielding madman Danny McGrath (an uncredited Steve Buscemi), whom Billy apologized to earlier in the film for bullying in school, disables Eric by firing a single shot into his buttocks. The film then moves to a graduation scene, where Billy is delivering a speech. He decides that he will pass the hotel business on to Carl Alphonse (Larry Hankin), one of his father's more polite businessmen, and announces he will attend college with hopes of becoming a teacher.
[edit] Cast
- Adam Sandler as Billy Madison
- Bradley Whitford as Eric Gordon
- Bridgette Wilson as Veronica Vaughn
- Chris Farley (uncredited) as Bus Driver
- Darren McGavin as Brian Madison
- Dina Platias as Miss Lippy
- Garrett Hinchey as Jack
- Hrant Alianak as Pete
- Josh Mostel as Principal Max Anderson
- Larry Hankin as Carl Alphonse
- Norm Macdonald as Frank
- Steve Buscemi (uncredited) as Danny McGrath
- Theresa Merritt as Juanita
[edit] Reception
The film earned poor reviews when first being released, Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times commented; "Sandler has a bad habit of thinking he is funnier than we do". In At The Movies, Siskel and Ebert gave the film a very bad review, and 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" with Siskel adding "...you don't have a good motivation for the character's behavior".[1] Rotten Tomatoes reports that based on the 34 reviews counted, 41% of critics gave the film a positive review.[2] Despite being panned by critics, it has sold well on VHS and DVD.[citation needed]
[edit] Awards and nominations
[edit] Nominated
- MTV Movie Award
- Adam Sandler - Best Comedic Performance
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM1uABFgyb0
- ^ "Billy Madison (1995)". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/billy_madison/. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
[edit] External links
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