Billy Madison 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Billy Madison 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 16, 2025

Tamra Davis' "Billy Madison" (1995) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include new audio commentary by critics Bryan Connolly and Wilson Smith; archival audio commentary by Tamra Davis; deleted scenes and outtakes; and vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The dummy

It was Airheads that made up my mind to see Billy Madison at my local theater. I enjoyed Airheads quite a bit, but not because it produced an avalanche of great laughs. At the time, I thought that its producers had put together one heck of a soundtrack to support its mostly average laughs. I still have a copy of this soundtrack on CD, and my mind remains unchanged that a few tracks on it are legitimate hits. (“Born to Raise Hell”, which was promoted with a great music video too, is my favorite).

Last night, while revisiting Billy Madison for the first time in well over two decades, I laughed quite a bit, but it was not because the funny in it is funny. I laughed because the funny is terrible, and Adam Sandler makes it even worse. This is not as easy as it probably sounds because the terrible is just about maxed out, so the opportunities for Sandler to do more damage are quite limited. But I have to give Sandler credit because he is pretty darn good at being pretty darn bad, which apparently is the reason some folks find Billy Madison to be a fine comedy. I do not. I thought that it was a mediocre comedy when I saw it at my local theater, and I still do.

There are two very specific reasons that ruin Billy Madison for me, and neither has anything to do with the silliness that gives it its identity. I like silly comedies, possibly even more than I should, and have many in my library. The main problem in Billy Madison that prevents me from enjoying it is also the most obvious one. Sandler’s struggle to lead and be funny while switching personalities produces ripple effects that slice the narrative like a hot razor blade would butter. In other words, Sandler moves through a collection of uneven scenes where nine out of ten times it looks like he is guessing the most effective material for his character. He keeps guessing wrong, too, because even the few scenes that are remotely funny are, sadly, mediocre.

Billy Madison does not produce a proper atmosphere to make its silliness attractive. And yet, typically this is precisely what a silly comedy needs to be effective. Instead, after Sandler steps in front of the camera, Billy Madison quickly evolves into a one-man show, relentlessly selling the struggle of its star as a special spectacle.

All of this is most unfortunate because there is a decent story in Billy Madison, sharing a few elements with the one told in the classic comedy Brewster's Millions. Sandler plays the spoiled, goofy son of a famous billionaire (Darren McGavin) who is challenged to prove that he deserves to lead the business empire his father has built, not one of the old man’s most trusted associates. To prove that he does, Sandler then goes back to school to complete all twelve grades, without his father bribing the teachers, for a total of twenty-four weeks. However, the challenge becomes complicated when Sandler begins to fall in love with a beautiful teacher (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras) and his nemesis cooks up a scheme to sabotage his progress and emerge victorious.

The late Norm MacDonald and Mark Beltzman appear in a few of the best sequences. Chris Farley has a tiny part, too.

Billy Madison 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kino Lorber's release of Billy Madison is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray is Region-A "locked".

Please note that some of the screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual color values of this content.

Screencaptures #1-28 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #31-39 are from the 4K Blu-ray.

The combo pack introduces a new 4K makeover of Billy Madison. In native 4K, the 4K makeover can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR grades. I chose to view it with HDR. Later, I spent time with the 1080p presentation of it on the Blu-ray.

I do not have any older home video releases of Billy Madison in my library. However, I feel very comfortable stating that after it was redone in 4K at Universal, Billy Madison looks the best it ever has. Indeed, the 4K makeover is very impressive and its strengths are practically identical to those of the recent excellent 4K makeovers of Sea of Love and Uncle Buck. On my system, all visuals looked wonderfully detailed, sharp, and incredibly vibrant. Some of the outdoor party footage, in particular, looked magnificent. Color reproduction and balance are great, too. All primaries look lush and healthy, while the supporting nuances are perfectly set. Needless to say, the dynamic range of the visuals is outstanding. I did several tests to see what the obvious discrepancies are between the native 4K and 1080p presentations. The HDR grade definitely strengthens most of the brighter footage, giving a sharper and richer appearance. However, I think that the 1080p presentation is very attractive, too. A lot of the same brighter footage looked outstanding on my system. The density levels of the visuals are equally great as well. So, if you do not yet have a 4K system, the Blu-ray will still give you a tremendously impressive presentation of the new 4K makeover of Billy Madison.

Billy Madison 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I viewed the entire film with the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. All exchanges are crystal clear and very easy to follow. Balance is excellent. Even though the film does not have any elaborate action material, there is quite a bit of goofy and party footage that sounds wonderful. The music creates some interesting contrasts as well. I did not encounter any encoding anomalies to report.

Billy Madison 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary One - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by author/filmmaker Bryan Connolly and Billy Gilmore Podcast host Wilson Smith. The commentators share interesting information about the casting choices that were made (Philip Seymour Hoffman was apparently offered a part but turned it down), the shooting process in Canada, Adam Sandler's vision of comedy and how and why it reappears in many other films he made, etc. The commentators also state that Billy Madison is "absurd" but still, somehow "works".

• Commentary Two - this archival audio commentary was recorded by director Tamra Davis. The majority of the information shared in the commentary addresses the shooting of Billy Madison in Canada, Adam Sandler's performance, and the funny material and how much of was scripted and improvised.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary One - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by author/filmmaker Bryan Connolly and Billy Gilmore Podcast host Wilson Smith. The commentators share interesting information about the casting choices that were made (Philip Seymour Hoffman was apparently offered a part but turned it down), the shooting process in Canada, Adam Sandler's vision of comedy and how and why it reappears in many other films he made, etc. The commentators also state that Billy Madison is "absurd" but still, somehow "works".

• Commentary Two - this archival audio commentary was recorded by director Tamra Davis. The majority of the information shared in the commentary addresses the shooting of Billy Madison in Canada, Adam Sandler's performance, and the funny material and how much of was scripted and improvised.

• Deleted Scenes - in English, not subtitled. (33 min).
  
  1. The Pool, Penguins & Pornography
  2. Billy at Home
  3. Being Billy
  4. School Days
  5. Eric and Principal Anderson
  6. Aacademic Decathlon and Graduation

• Outtakes - in Engish, not subtitled. (4 min).

• Trailer - presented here is an original theatrical trailer for Billy Madison. in Engish, not subtitled. (2 min).

Billy Madison 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Absurd, silly, and goofy are words that can be used to describe virtually all of the material in Billy Madison. This is fine. However, very little of this material is funny, and Billy Madison is supposed to be a comedy. It is why I think only diehard fans of Adam Sandler can genuinely enjoy Billy Madison, though even they should be able to acknowledge that it is not one of the better films in his body of work. Kino Lorber's combo pack release introduces an excellent 4K makeover of Billy Madison, recently prepared at Universal. RECOMMENDED only to Sandler fans.