re: Is Billy Madison the greatest comedy of all time?

It’s a very good comedy but I think Step Brothers is better.

You know something you suck

The Adam Sandler movies get grouped in my head, so maybe I underrate them individually?

I have the following above any Sandler Movie, however I’ve only thought about this for the past 2 minutes.

Airplane! - I was my favorite movie when I was a kid, without realizing it was a comedy! I just wanted Stryker to land that plane!

Naked Gun I - Act III at the baseball game is 30 minutes of pure comedy gold.

Blazing Saddles - This one I first saw as an adult, probably in the early 2000’s? It’s comedy gold, but there was some shock value involved too.

There’s Something about Mary - I saw this in the theater after my first submarine deployment wasn’t expecting much and just died laughing throughout.

quote:

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He called the shite poop!

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This and this are still two of the funniest things in the world to me. And I remember where I was when I first saw this. In 7th grade

Greatest? No. Most quotable? Yes. My top 5? Yes

There are so many things in Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore that shouldn't have been funny, but Adam Sandler and his posse of friends he puts in all of his movies find a way to create this atmosphere that makes even the most basic thing hilarious.

No, it's not...and...stop looking at me swan!

Eh, after reading this thread I decided to watch it again last night - it slides down the list for me.

Even comparing the very narrow genre of “1995 Films Starring SNL Cast Members as Man-Children Who Must Accomplish Impossible Task X or Else the Company Goes to Arsehole Y” - I’d have to put this film below Tommy Boy. IMDB is in agreement 7.1 - 6.3.

As a character, Adam Sandler’s man-child is a bit over the top. There’s nothing really sympathetic about a 27-year old lighting a bag of sh** on fire.

Farley’s version a man-child is equally dumb, but is shown to be friends with the entire working class at Callahan Auto Parts, showing through his life he has cared about people even if he is a dim-wit.

David Spade’s character in Tommy Boy is also better than Eric Gordon in Billy Madison - who is shown to have no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

This is a problem, because Billy Madison chose to keep Billy’s dad (the company owner) alive, and alive with complete agency. Whereas Tommy Boy killed off the dad, introduced a new wife (the actual villain) and kicks off the plot from there, eliminating the rational decision maker from the plot.

At the end of Billy Madison, Old man Madison cheers Billy handing the company over to Karl - a decision he could have made to begin with.

*Donkey Kong Country

Not even Sandler’s best film in the 90s, which is Happy Gilmore.