Tonto pero no tanto

Very much a movie of it's time. Watching it now, if you didn't watch it in 1995 or thereabouts, is probably going to leave you shaking your head.

Look, all I can say is that Adam Sandler was king of juvenile humour back then, and that it was a different time. Yes, there are some jokes that would never make it to the screen today, and some of the scenes made me cringe a little. Billy Madison is spectacularly dumb, but it's fun in a 1990's comedy sort of way, which is a whole different realm.

Adam Sandler plays the titular character who is basically a lazy slob, but needs to graduate elementary and high school to take over the family's hotel chain. Standing in his way is the villain of the moment, played hammily by Bradley Whitford. So many dumb jokes you can't help but laugh, and the expected cameos from Sandler's buddies - Steve Buscemi and Chris Farley in this instance.

Out of all of Adam Sandler's comedic efforts, Billy Madison still stands as his most profoundly weird and dare I say, surreal.

Many of Sandler's worst comedies, such as Jack and Jill and Grown Ups are comedies that fail due to how horrifically lazy and uninspired they are. From their premises to their jokes and gags and their overall execution, those movies just have nothing to offer in terms of inspired humor or even just surface-level entertainment. Billy Madison may be absurdly idiotic and juvenile, but the movie isn't lazy or uninspired.

Many of the jokes and gags in this film are supremely strange, such as Billy making a call to an old schoolmate he used to bully and apologizing to him, then later on, that same guy comes back at the end of the film to save Billy from the film's antagonist, Eric, by shooting him in the ass with a sniper rifle. This movie does genuinely feel like an inspired piece of alternative comedy that totally works for me.

And the film manages to avoid what many of the worst Sandler comedies indulge in, which is trying to trick the audience with moments of phony sentimentality as a way to convince them into believing that the film has an emotional core. Billy Madison knows exactly what kind of movie it is and it makes no apologies for how stupid or ridiculous it gets and I both respect and appreciate that.

Billy Madison is a childish, bizarre, and kind of dark comedic film at times which is what makes it unique from most of Sandler's other films. It's an acquired taste for sure, this movie certainly wouldn't turn any Sandler haters into believers. But in comparison to most of Sandler's other comedies, Billy Madison is one that stands out.

"Hey Billy, who would you rather bone, Meg Ryan or Jack Nicholson?"

"Jack Nicholson now, or 1974?"

"'74"

"Meg Ryan."

Billy Madison is a 1995 comedy and is Adam Sandlers first big hit in a feature film. It's about an underachiever who goes back to school grades k-12 on a bet and if he graduates he'll get to take over his father's company upon retirement.

It's a very silly and ridiculous movie, but I've always thought it was quite funny. Sandler amps up the goofiness to the point that you'd think he knew he wasn't going to get another film so he just went all out. The story is decent, the cast is good, and the overall end result is a fun flick that won't win any awards, but will tickle your funny bone for an hour and a half.

If you haven't seen this before and like silly humor, I would recommend checking it out.

Adam Sandler plays Billy Madison, the son of a wealthy businessman, who is about to hand over the reigns of his company to a greedy businessman. So, in a last effort to have the company handed to himself, Billy enters a bet, that if he can make it all the way through school over again, the company is his. But he cannot flunk school this time around.

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

This is one of those lucky cases where the opening sequence of a movie gives you an excellent idea of what you are in for.

If you do not enjoy Billy's sunblock song, or the bit with the penguin, then you must turn off the movie and stop being such a nag about it.

But for those of us who happen to enjoy movies that are silly and stupid, this is one of the best ones out there.