Billy Madison

This was on TV last night, and I watched it on the strength of the reviews here at imdb.com. I am AMAZED that so many people liked this pustulent, fetid, rancid discharge of a film. Its lack of comedy is only equalled by its immaturity and pointlessness. There is no acting, no humour, and a plot so thin I can only wonder how it survives holding the weight of its own rancid patheticness. I was literally slack jawed with shock at how bad this film is. I was frustrated with sorrow for the people who actually liked this - one reviewer says that he / she was laughing out loud. At what? How films like this ever get released? How Adam Sandler still has a career after this moronic turd of a film? Just awful. Dont say I did not warn you. By the way, this is only the 2nd review I have written on imdb.com. Generally I feel little need to, as previous posters sum up (generally) the pros and cons of a film very well, but I feel in this case, the public should be warned. I cannot BELIEVE there are so many good reviews for this film, and the truth needs to be told. I am actually offended that this rubbish got greenlighted, made and released, where actual (would be) decent films never see production.

Shocking.

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.

Billy is the son of a rich businessman who owns a chain of very successful hotels. Billy lives a lazy live of goofing around and being drunk by the pool before midday. When his father decides to hand the business over to associate Eric Gordon because Billy is too dumb to do it - having only passed his school exams by his father paying his teachers. Billy doesn't want to be cut out so agrees to go through school all over again - doing one grade every two weeks.

Adam Sadler films are very much a matter of taste - if you like him doing his usual `dumb guy who makes good' stuff then you'll be right at home with his early films. I am in two minds about it, his humour is generally very lowbrow but he does have a few funny moments in any film. That is the case here, overall the humour is very childish but it does have an occasional moment that is just so off the wall and out of the blue that they are hilarious. Examples include the blue duck, an invisible penguin, the fight between shampoo & conditioner, the principal who's wife is a slut and a hilarious response to Billy where `wrong' would have sufficed!

Do these few funny moments save the film? No, they make it bearable, else I would have been angry with no laughs - but one every ten minutes make it OK, if not really worth watching. The plot is stupid and the characters are rubbish. I know that these things are not what the film is about, but one has to wonder how stupid the writers think the audience are when they simply switch Veronica from hating Billy to being totally in love with him with no explanation or reason! Of course this is a minor problem - the bigger problem is the fact that the film isn't consistently funny enough to work.

Sadler is his usual self - if you like that you'll like that if not you won't. He has a few good moments but generally his performance is childish and not funny. He has an imagination on him for the weird that happily creates the funny moments but his performance is painful. Worse still is Wilson; she cannot act in anything I've seen and here she must carry some blame for being totally unable to phase her growing affection for Billy - instead it's like she just flicked a switch. The support cast is OK although it's sad to see Whitford slumming it when he is better than this.

Overall this film has enough laugh-out-loud moments that appealed to my sense of humour and made me semi-glad I watched it. However it is a major problem that the film has no plot, characters, logic or consistent laughs. A weak film, albeit a weak film that has a handful of hilarious moments and the odd very imaginative touch!

What can I possibly say? This is no "Citizen Kane," but this is one of the movies that sticks out in my mind the most. It's a twisted, crude, tasteless comedy but never ceases to bring out extreme laughter, even after I've seen it approximately 200 times--give or take. I just cannot get tired of this movie! There are things in this movie that cannot be understood, like every Sandler flick. What the hell was the deal with the penguin? However, it's a memorable moment. There are so many memorable quotes from the film. It's one of those movies I can quote line per line off the top of my head.

Here's a share of my favorite quotes:

(singing) "Suntan lotion is good for me. You protect me. Tee-hee-hee."

"O'Doyle rules!"

"It's too damn hot for a penguin to be just walkin' around. I gotta send him back to the South Pole."

"You're giving the company to Eric? He is a bad, bad man."

Adam Sandler has that brand of comic genius in which you don't know what you're laughing at, but it's damn funny! You can't help it! I can't rant and rave about anything artistically brilliant about "Billy Madison." Yet it's one of my favorite movies of all time.

It's funny, it's original, it's Sandler! Nuff said.

My score: 8 (out of 10)

If you want to see a movie that is fun, puts you in a good mood, and never gets old, then see Billy Madison. All of you Sandler haters will think this is stupid, but everyone who likes Adam Sandler, or doesn't mind humor that is kind of stupid will love Billy Madison.

This is one of Adam Sandler's first movies, and it's one of his best also. This is a movie that I've seen so many times, but I still enjoy it every time. This is good to watch when you're in a bad mood, or if you're stressed out, because it will perk you up quicker than any coffee you can name. Other movies that put you in a good mood are Happy Gilmore, Beavis and Butthead Do America, South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, and Tommy Boy.

Overall, Billy Madison has a somewhat stupid sense of humor, but it does make you laugh, and it's such an entertaining movie. If you haven't seen this yet, see it now and see what all the laughing is about.