History Film / BillyMadison

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Eric may be a massive {{Jerkass}} and CorruptCorporateExecutive, but he's not wrong in pointing out that Billy is unfit to run his father's company. However, Billy isn't wrong either in regards to the fact that Eric isn't fit for the job either. [[spoiler:Both sides are eventually proven right in the end, as Billy manages to prove himself right by choosing the topic Business Ethics for Eric's question at the end. Eric fails to answer the question and suffers a VillainousBreakdown, proving he is not fit to run any company. Eric is also proven right as by the end, Billy chooses not to take over his father's company, and decides to go to college and become a teacher instead.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Billy is on the receiving end of a legendary one after giving an stupid answer during the academic decathalon at the end.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: At the climax, the principal hosting the academic decathlon reacts to Eric pulling a gun on him and demanding a new question, threatening to shoot Billy, being attacked by another principal dressed as a Mexican wrestler, threatening to shoot ''Veronica'' while laughing crazily before himself being shot in the ass by a sniper with little more than mildly irritated, condescending eye-rolling and head-shaking.

* ShaggyFrogStory: Billy's comparison of the Industrial Revolution to "The Puppy Who Lost His Way" is suggested to be one. The page quote is the Principal's response to the screed.

* ShotInTheAss: Eric at the end.

** He also objects to putting Eric in charge of the company because he knows Eric is immoral and callous (or, as he puts it, "He is a ''bad man''!"). He doesn't seem particularly upset that his father's not passing the company to him until he learns it would go to Eric instead. If Brian had [[spoiler:given control of the company to Carl instead of Eric, ]]chances are there would be no movie.
** After passing everyone of his grades, Billy always throw a huge party and invites all his classmates.

* ObviouslyEvil: Eric spends every single second on screen being a slimy little weasel, and Billy actually calls him out on it a couple of times during the film, culminating with him proving at the climax that he is so devoid of business ethics that he literally has no knowledge of them.

* AssholeVictims: The O'Doyle family station wagon slips by a banana peel, falls of a cliff, and explodes, killing every O'Doyle on board. No one is mourning them.

* CharacterDevelopment: On the way, Billy grows more mature, apologizing for his bad behavior and genuinely cleaning up his act. He also realizes that he's more interested in teaching than in running Madison Hotels, so he gives control of the company to Carl.

* CoolOldGuy: Carl. Which is why Billy decides to step aside and let him run his father's company.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: Eric is absolutely correct that Billy is not at all suited to run the company but shows himself to be a little better, being so amoral that he literally has no grasp on what business ethics are. Billy even fully acknowledges that he isn't suited to the task halfway through and only battles to prevent Eric from getting the gig, later handing the reigns over to Carl, who is much more ethical.* RuleOfFunny: The reason why Billy gets away with some of his shenanigans.

* SadistTeacher: Averted, rather surprisingly for most of the teachers.

* ObviouslyEvil: Eric spends every single second on screen being a slimy little weasel, and Billy actually calls him out on it a couple of times during the film, culminating with him proving at the climax that he is so devoid of business ethics that he literally has no knowledge of them.* OneOfTheKids: Up until he gets to high school, Billy fits in almost perfectly with the small children around him.

* ManChild: Billy. He's 27 years old, unemployed and still lives with his dad. And he has to repeat every single grade to earn his father's trust.

* NoodleIncident: Billy's dad imploring Billy to have one meal without him screaming gibberish - as well as Eric knowing the bizarre triggers for it - implies that the scene we see in the movie is not the first time Billy has done this.
* ObviouslyEvil: Eric spends every single second on screen being a slimy little weasel that Billy actually calls him out on it a couple of times during the film, culminating with him proving at the climax that he is so devoid of business ethics that he literally has no knowledge of them.
* OneOfTheKids: Up until he gets to high school, Billy fits in almost perfectly with the small children around him.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: Eric is absolutely correct that Billy is not at all suited to run the company but shows himself to be little better, being so amoral he literally has no grasp on what business ethics are. Billy even fully acknowledges that he isn't suited to the task halfway through and only battles to prevent Eric from getting the gig, later handing the reigns over to Carl who is much more ethical.
* RuleOfFunny: The reason why Billy gets away with some of his shenanigans.

* SternTeacher: Veronica, at least to Billy. It doesn't help that Billy's emotional maturity is close to the same level as the grade school children, but Billy constantly tries to hit on Veronica and disrupt her classroom. As such, Veronica treats Billy harshly in turn.