When Adam Sandler signed his gazillion dollar deal with Netflix a few years back, fans knew it was only a matter of time before he’d re-visit one of his classic goofball characters. And, with apologies to Billy Madison faithful, he probably chose wisely on which one to be the initial ‘marquee’ sequel.
‘Happy Gilmore 2’ catches us up with Sandler’s hockey goon-turned-golfer, first introduced to audiences in 1996. The film was inescapably stupid – yet, it still stands as a near perfect lampoon for golf (‘Caddyshack’ still holds the ‘perfect’ title, by the way), thus it’s still beloved and quoted again and again to this day. A sport so prim and proper that the arrival of a reckless nut causes both chaos and a surge in its popularity? This is prime playground territory for Adam Sandler.
The sequel? Well, that inescapably stupid tag is still attached. Unfortunately, this is a movie so swarmed with celebrity cameos and seemingly unfinished ideas that it’s just……well, it’s just….there. Like a lot of Netflix exclusive product, it has that “meh, good enough” vibe. It’s still cool to see Happy back on the course in that Bruins jersey, it still has its amusing moments (well, amusing IF you like Sandler’s special brand of ha ha) and to be fair, the film is probably everything Happy Gilmore fans want – but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good.
The plot has Gilmore down on his luck….no spoilers, but he’s suddenly a single father to four grown children, his youngest a daughter who dreams of attending a very fancy, very expensive dance academy. Happy returns to the game needing money, only he does it in a drunken manner – the skids he’s hit are unfortunately coated with Jack Daniels – and eventually works his way back to playing in a big, hokey tournament for the movie’s climax. And of course, his psychotic rival, Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald) returns as well.
But let’s go back to those cameos. Travis Kelce. Bad Bunny. Almost every PGA golfer to ever swing a club. The best, by a long shot (see what I did there?) is Scottie Scheffler, but then, Scottie wins everything lately, so why not? Oh, and legends like Jack Nicklaus pop up. (One of the best moments? Jack orders a half lemonade/half iced tea. “Arnold Palmer?” he’s asked. “No, but I get that question a lot.” he responds. Okay, that’s good.)
So yes, ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ does find SOME game left in this character. He has nowhere near the drive he used to, but when you’re a legend, and you’re willing to come and play….well, let’s just enjoy the game and give the guy a well deserved Mulligan.
