The Movie: Billy Madison. 1995.Written by Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy Directed by Tamra Davis Staring: Adam Sandler Bradley Whitford, Bridgette Wilson, Norm Macdonald, and Darren McGavin
Three days in to Adam Sandler week, and I thought it would be a good idea to watch one of the golden age Sandler vehicles that everyone seems to have some semblance of affection. Billy Madison is half of the infamous Sandler production company Happy Madison, so it seems important to review it in order to understand the appeal of Sandler and how he got to be the juggernaut of the box office he is (or perhaps used to be, as pixels bombed)
Billy Madison is a movie where Adam Sandler (again Adam Sandler characters don't have names, even if those names are the title of the film) is a rich entitled slacker whose father owns a fortune 500 hotel chain. His father is retiring, and after a discussion with the bad guy (Bradley Whitford, playing someone so evil, later in the film he can't even describe ethics.) about his son not inheriting the company.
This seems like a good business decision, honestly. When we first meet Sandler, he's drunk in a pool excited for (as he says) Nudie magazine day. He rides in a golf cart and destroys the garden to get to the mail to retrieve his smut. It's super dumb, but I will say this. It's the most subtle depiction of who his character is I've seen in an Adam Sandler film so far. In a movie like Grown Ups, everyone is just what others say about them, but to Billy Madison's credit at least no one just says their motivations.
So anyway, his father tells him he's out, and admits to cheating for his son to get him through high school. billy says he can finish school, and the two strike up a deal where if Adam Sandler can pass each grade from 1st-12th he can be in charge of this hotel conglomerate.
This is another movie that, like The Master of Disguise before, I remember really liking as a kid. Coming back to it, I'm not as embarrassed as I was about Master of Disguise, looking back on it. However I think there is something that needs to be adressed. Adam Sandler movies have a lot (like a lot) of sexism. Like Michael Bay could watch these movies and go "Jesus dude, what happened to you?"
At one point, (when Sandler is in 3rd grade) a boy dares Adam Sandler to touch the teacher's (Bridgette Wilson) boobs. Sandler decries this, telling the child "that would be assault" there is a small pause and then Sandler says "you double dare me?" objectively the joke works as a call and response, but it's really making light of something that isn't funny. Sandler does this and is put in his place by the teacher, but he's still our hero. We are shown that his behavior is unacceptable, but he doesn't change it. Later on, (in 9th grade) he is trying to act cool, and when a young girl who is trying to learn tells him he's a loser and to shut up, he pretends that she wanted to make out with him and loudly rebuffs her in front of the class. I honestly don't see how it's funny. It's not even funny to watch Sandler flounder with the joke that isn't even working in the context of the film.
The movie, regressive though it might be, has a few moments. Namely the end (which is a game show style competition between Bradly Whitford and Sandler) where Sandler is asked a question about the industrial revolution, and answers with a long monologue about a book he read back in the 1st grade. It's a monologue we've heard before in so many inspiring movies. After the speech, the proctor says this
Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
It's by far the best laugh in the movie. It comes out of nowhere and it's delivered so dryly that even if you've hated the movie so far it'll probably get you. I laughed and I could probably recite the joke from memory.
Should you watch this movie? Maybe. It's an odd film. It's definitely more Jerry Lewis (in both good ways and bad ways) than his later films, so if you're tired with modern Sandler this might help.
Where can you watch it? Netflix
The Flophouse (found here) is a bad movie podcast that has flipped the script on what has become a tired cliche of a genre in podcast-ing. It is more comedy podcast than movie podcast in truth, and if you like a good tangent then it will definitely satiate that need. Hosts, Dan McCoy, Elliot Kalan, and Stuart Wellington bring a kind of sincerity to the podcast that makes it clear these three are buds. Listening to the flophouse is often like listening to old friends bicker about a story that happened years ago (but if your friends were professional comedy writers) It can be kind of hard to pick an episode to start with, so I'll suggest Ep 14 Bratz which is one of the first great episodes, however you could find just as much enjoyment searching the back catalog for a movie you've seen.
No comments:
Post a Comment