On the rink, he was a tough player who could have used a few skating lessons. On the green, however, Happy Gilmore’s killer slap shot helped him score the kind of long drives that could make Mike Austin scream profanity out of frustration. Hockey’s loss became golf’s gain, and Gilmore’s domination on the championship tour gave the PGA a shot of pure rock & roll energy right up its tight, white ass. Not even the furious fists of Bob Barker could slow down his ascent to sports legend. He got the gold jacket, the girl, his grandmother out of that sweat shop of a nursing home — the whole nine. The end.
We don’t need to tell you that 1996’s Happy Gilmore is considered a modern comedy classic, or that it’s the hit that turned Adam Sandler from funny-guy-who-was-on-SNL to full-on movie star. You know all of this. You can likely even quote huge chunks of it, especially if you’re a golfing dude of a certain age. And while Sandler’s done sequels before, the idea that he’d ever bring back the beer-bong-chugging, breast-signing bad boy of the links was a bit of a pipe dream. Only a fairy godmother, or possibly a streaming service with whom Sandler already had a super-lucrative production deal with, could grant that wish.
Boom! It only took close to 30 years, but hey! Wish granted! Happy Gilmore 2 brings you up to speed to what our man has been up to since we last saw him, which is more or less what you’d expect: getting huge endorsements, basking in his godhead status, and raising a family — four rowdy sons who’ve inherited Dad’s gift for violence and dick jokes, and a daughter (Sunny Sandler) — with his wife, former pro-tour PR director Virginia Venit (Julie Bowen). It was heavenly, until tragedy struck during a game. Then Gilmore flamed out, lost everything, and became a dedicated boozer, making flasks out of everything from cucumbers to cuckoo clocks. He was happy in name only.
Thankfully, Gilmore goes to rehab. Never mind that his group is run by the same slimeball that lorded over Grandma’s assisted-living residence. (Hi, Ben Stiller!) Happy is determined to get his groove back. Eventually, he overcomes the trauma he now associates with the sport who made him a king, and starts picking up the clubs again. Things start to look up.
Except there’s this douchebag named Frank Manatee (Benny Safdie, dressed as if he’s still in character from The Curse). He watched Gilmore bring that agent-of-chaos energy to golf when he was a kid. It’s inspired him to start his own competing league called Maxi, which resembles a cross between American Gladiator, the original XFL and a Four Loko hangover. Manatee wants Gilmore to join. Happy throws him into a grocery store’s lobster tank. (For the record: That’s Gilmore’s version of replying, “Thank you, but I must decline your generous offer. I bid you good day, sir!”)
Regardless, Maxi becomes such a big deal regardless that it threatens the very existence of the PGA. Happy must gather a who’s who of contemporary golfing MVPs to take on the various hyped-up players, including a surgically altered dynamo (Haley Joel Osment), to maintain the integrity of the sport. Even Shooter McGavin (god bless you, Christopher McDonald), who’s been institutionalized since losing his marbles after his Gilmore’s victory decades ago, gets in on the action.
Christopher McDonald in ‘Happy Gilmore 2.’ Netflix
That’s the story. Which is, naturally, just a convenient excuse for Sandler and his longtime cowriter Tim Herlihy to hang a bunch of reprised gags, deep-cut callbacks to the original movie, and a gajillion celebrity cameos. Per usual, virtually every member of the Sandler family shows up, along with the comedian’s longtime friends and colleagues. The soundtrack is pure Classic Rock and Jock Jams 101. Everyone wants to see the Sandman bring back the worst behavior of his iconic A–hole-in-one character, and even tempered with a bit of sentimental-dad schmaltz, the Gilmore-goes-wild act is still potent. As for Jack Nicklaus making an Arnold Palmer joke to Travis Kelce, Bad Bunny catching a speeding baseball in his mouth, Steve Buscemi peeing into a mailbox, Margaret Qualley doing the splits in a sand trap and Eminem getting attacked by crazed swamp predators? Those are just bonuses.
The rule for sequels is: give them the same, only different. Happy Gilmore 2 adheres to this concept beautifully, along with doling out enough blatant fan service to choke a one-eyed alligator. (R.I.P., Morris.) Trust us, your favorite joke, your favorite line, and/or your favorite character gets an encore, one way or another. A fight in a graveyard doubles as a shout-out to every O.G. cast member who’s died in the interim between 1996 and today, including Barker, Frances “Grandma” Bay, Joe “Jackass!” Flaherty, Carl Weathers, and the aforementioned toothy reptile. The movie ends the same way the first Happy Gilmore came in, with Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s “Tuesday’s Gone” on full blast. That’s not a spoiler. It’s an inevitability. The whole shebang works better than you think it might, partially because nostalgia is one powerful narcotic and partially because you can’t underestimate the sheer pleasure of watching people get repeatedly hit in the nuts with balls. Until we get a sequel to Billy Madison, this will have to do.
