The Billy Madison/Happy Gilmore Collection—Universal
Audio: 3
Extras: 3
Adam Sandler. You either love him or hate him...except for me, I tend to love AND hate him! For example, I loved Happy Gilmore, but I could've lived without Billy Madison, which is why this collection is great for me. Happy Gilmore definitely looks and sounds a whole lot better, and it's just a better movie overall, though Billy does have its moments.
Picture-wise (both discs are 1.85:1 anamorphic), Billy's got some great color composition in the elementary school classroom scenes. However, the quality is just far superior across the board in Happy. Check out the bright red bra and pen in Chapter 8 where Sandler autographs his female fan's chest, then jumps in the water with the gator who took his mentor Chubbs' hand. On both discs the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks are more than sufficient, though personally I preferred Billy for the fun, over-the-top musical selections from ELO, Styxx, Billy Squier, and the like.
The extras are probably the only reason to get excited about these discs, but I have to say they didn't blow me away. Deleted scenes and outtakes are plentiful and fairly funny (though most of the deleted scenes tended to err on the side of truly bad taste, as with the nursing-home phone-sex operation scene thankfully deleted from Happy), but anyone hoping for some juicy behind-the-scenes tidbits from the commentary on Billy will find themselves seriously disappointed. Sandler isn't even part of the commentary, it's just director Tamra Davis who frankly, doesn't have much of any interest to share (she keeps talking about how "cut" Sandler is and how funny he was...who cares?!). Aside from the deleted scenes, outtakes, and the commentary on Billy, there are production notes but no cast bios, which I consider fairly standard. Overall, though, it's not a bad effort.
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