Billy Madison (1995)
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A spoiled heir must complete grades 1 through 12 in a matter of months to inherit his father's company.
The story
Billy Madison is a dimwitted, immature, and spoiled 27-year-old heir to Madison Hotels, a Fortune 500 company. Rather than preparing to take over the family business, Billy spends his days partying and causing chaos. After he embarrasses his father during an important dinner meeting, his father, who is retiring soon, decides to hand control of the company to his conniving vice president, Eric Gordon. When Billy pleads for another chance, his father offers a deal: Billy must complete grades 1 through 12, spending two weeks on each grade, to prove he is capable of running the company.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Billy Madison, a spoiled 27-year-old, is told by his father that he must complete grades 1 through 12 to inherit the family's Fortune 500 company. He begins his journey in elementary school, where he earns the respect of his classmates and teacher, Veronica Vaughn. However, the villainous Eric Gordon attempts to sabotage Billy by blackmailing the principal, who was formerly a wrestler known as 'the Revolting Blob.' After a brief setback, Billy returns to school and eventually challenges Eric to an academic decathlon. During the final round, Eric suffers a breakdown and pulls a gun, but is stopped by the principal. Eric is subsequently shot by a former classmate. At graduation, Billy chooses not to take over the company, instead giving it to the loyal manager Carl Alphonse, and announces his intention to go to college and become a teacher.
- First release year
- 1995
- Runtime (minutes)
- 89
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Tamra Davis
- Writers
- Adam Sandler · writer; Tim Herlihy · writer
- Cast and characters
- Adam Sandler · Billy Madison; Bradley Whitford · Eric Gordon; Josh Mostel · Principal Max Anderson; Bridgette Wilson · Veronica Vaughn; Norm Macdonald · Frank; Darren McGavin · Brian Madison; Mark Beltzman · Jack; Larry Hankin · Carl Alphonse
- Genres
- comedy; coming-of-age
- Themes
- education; family dynamics
- Tone and mood
- comedy; absurd
- Premise and plot tags
- underdog; academic challenge
- Reception
- The film received generally negative reviews from critics but has since developed a cult following and is considered one of Adam Sandler's most defining works.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 40% · scale: percentage · review count: 52; Metacritic · score: 16 · scale: 100 · review count: 13
- Awards and nominations
- Best Comedic Performance · MTV Movie Awards · 1995 · nomination
- Production trivia
- The role of Jack was originally intended for Allen Covert.; Chris Farley reportedly drank six shots of espresso before filming his scene as the bus driver.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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