THE STORY – Twenty-nine years after winning his first Tour Championship, retired golfer Happy Gilmore returns to the sport to pay for his daughter Vienna’s ballet school.
THE CAST – Adam Sandler, Julie Bowen, Christopher McDonald, Benny Safdie, Bad Bunny & Ben Stiller
THE TEAM – Kyle Newacheck (Director), Tim Herlihy & Adam Sandler (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 114 Minutes
Other than personal affection on the part of its star, it’s hard to say why “Happy Gilmore,” of all the films in Adam Sandler’s oeuvre, was chosen to receive the legacy sequel treatment as part of his multimillion-dollar deal with Netflix, which has resulted in such bottom-of-the-barrel slop as “Hubie Halloween” and “Sandy Wexler”. Both “The Waterboy” and “Big Daddy” were more successful at the box office and with critics, but Sandler and his writing partner, Tim Herlihy, have put their energies into writing a sequel to Sandler’s second major starring vehicle, in which he played a wannabe ice hockey star who discovers a talent for golf but doesn’t fit in with the refined, upper-class world of the PGA. Now, nearly thirty years later, Happy Gilmore is a washed-up has-been, raising his four rambunctious sons and talented daughter alone while working at a local supermarket, sneaking drinks out of an increasingly hilarious array of hidden bottles. After losing nearly everything, Happy is brought back to the world of golf for the same reason as back in the ‘90s: Money. This time, it’s for his daughter to attend the prestigious Paris Royal Opera ballet school. But with a rival younger, cooler golf association called Maxi Golf threatening the existence of the game he came to love, and his old antagonist Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald) still upset about that gold jacket Happy beat him for all those years ago, can Happy get back in the game and beat the odds again?
There’s a certain chintziness to Sandler’s ‘90s films that fits in perfectly with the Netflix Original house style – children’s theater-level performances, obvious sets, wonky visual effects, and all. While this may not speak well of “Happy Gilmore 2” as a work of art, it does give this straight-to-streaming, decades-later sequel something altogether rarer and more valuable to fans: it effortlessly captures the look and feel of the original film. This is exactly how a “Happy Gilmore” sequel should look, from the anonymous locations to the just-too-bright lighting to the cast, which includes a roster of cameos from current and former professional golfers, comedians, and other celebrities. This is also exactly how a “Happy Gilmore” sequel should sound, with every scene offering several giggles from Sandler’s patented brand of smart dumb comedy. This isn’t groundbreaking humor, nor is it pushing any boundaries. Still, it’s plenty funny, and Sandler’s knack for physical comedy and pushing his voice to ridiculous extremes hasn’t dimmed a bit in the decades since he first rose to fame on “Saturday Night Live”.
Sandler has surrounded himself with a cast full of funny people. Returning performers Julie Bowen (as Happy’s wife, Virginia), Ben Stiller (as the former power-hungry retirement home orderly Hal L., now running a support group), and McDonald fit these roles so well that it’s almost like the original film just came out yesterday. They each find ways to turn the dials on certain character traits up to eleven without going too far over the top. Most of the non-athlete new cast members are only present for a scene or two, but they’re all quite fun, from Eric André, Martin Herlihy, and Margaret Qualley as an amateur golf trio stuck with Happy as their fourth, to Benny Safdie as the rancid-breathed founder of the Maxi Golf league, from Haley Joel Osment as a journeyman pro golfer to the funniest member of the cast, Bad Bunny (credited by his full name, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) as Happy’s new caddy. Everyone seems to be having a blast embracing the silliest parts of themselves onscreen, and the feeling is infectious. If Sandler’s daughter, Sunny, is a bit of a dead-eyed liability as Happy’s daughter, at least the family connection brings a genuine tenderness out of Sandler’s proud papa that makes his performance feel more genuine than it did in the ‘90s.
While “Happy Gilmore 2” has a more mature sensibility than the ‘90s original, that’s mostly a reflection of the character’s age. As a man in his 50s, Happy has a very different “happy place” now, but it’s still just as hilarious in its soft-focus fantasy as it was in the original. He may have tapped into his dramatic chops more often (and successfully) in recent years, but Sandler’s funny bone is still very much intact, and he no longer needs to rely on shouting curse words to get laughs (although a montage of Sandler swearing at the golf ball and clubs is one of the film’s funniest sequences). Thankfully, Sandler and Herlihy don’t take the typical tack for legacy sequels, which often involve a reckoning between older and younger generations. Instead, it just takes the plot of the original and freshens it up a bit by making Happy a part of the establishment, but still an outsider. “Happy Gilmore 2” isn’t about Happy teaching his kids or some younger golfers a lesson; it’s about Happy learning to love something he thought he was done with again, and accepting himself in the process. While that doesn’t make it great cinema, it does make this surprisingly successful sequel an enjoyable watch, even if it’s just on in the background.
