On the film review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a mediocre approval rating of 42% based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Audiences who enjoy Adam Sandler's belligerent comic energy may find him in joyously obnoxious form as "Billy Madison", but this thinly-plotted starring vehicle surrounds its star with an aggressively pedestrian movie." On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 16 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".