by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
29 years after his first tour win, Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) is now a widowed alcoholic with five kids. He has lost his grandmother’s house, along with everything else, and has retired from golf. Frank Manatee (Benny Safdie) approaches him about joining his Maxi Golf League, a more “extreme” and less traditional version of the sport. Meanwhile, Happy needs to figure out how to find the money to put his only daughter through dance school. With the help of a few old friends, Happy looks to re-enter the professional golf tour for the good of the sport and his daughter.
Sandler teams up with writer Tim Herlihy once again to write Happy Gilmore 2, the sequel to what is generally considered one of Sandler’s best comedies. Though, let’s be fair: That’s a reasonably low bar. I’d personally like to see Sandler commit to more serious roles like he pulled off in Uncut Gems and Spaceman.
Despite the word “Happy” in the title, the first act is depressing, with Happy’s wife dying, and him losing his grandmother’s house and all the money he earned as a golfer. Sandler’s comedies always center around anger and his character suffering a lot, but the fact that this one takes away everything Happy earned in the first movie, and essentially hits the reset button, makes me wonder what the point of the first movie was. All that effort to keep his grandmother’s house, only for him to lose it anyway, starts the story on such a downer. It also makes the decision even to make a sequel to Happy Gilmore seem a bit desperate; the only way it’s justified it is if the sequel acts like the first one didn’t happen.
Having said that, Happy Gilmore 2 certainly wants to remind you of what happened in the first movie. Many gags struggle between paying homage to the original and completely recycling its jokes. With some of them, the movie basically admits it is doing the same joke as before, showing the relevant clip from the original, as if to say, “Remember this part? Well, we’re doing it again.” This is mainly baffling given this is a Netflix movie, and the original is also on Netflix, so it’s not like anyone watching this cannot just watch the first one.
There are a decent number of original jokes here, both verbal and visual; however, they are few and far between. One of the original’s considerable strengths was how unexpected the slapstick and visual gags were. But there’s nothing in 2 that isn’t massively predictable. One particular gag with golf balls changing direction or being hit midair is used so many times that I was half expecting a joke to be made about how often it was happening. Something like that is funny because you don’t expect it, but it’s no longer unexpected if you keep doing it. It gets very taxing to repeatedly see Happy running up to the ball, have the over-the-top-sound effect when he hits it, and the POV shot of the ball flying through the air. We get it — he can hit it a long way. We knew that from the original. Why do we need to see it again?
However, the ending gag is how Happy wins the day. It’s not nearly as creative as what he does in the original, but it still centers on an innovative idea that isn’t typically seen in golf. Happy does have to use a bit of wit and skill to pull it off, so it is a satisfying climax.
With this being a legacy sequel, it of course has to do the plot line of the former star being washed up, and everybody saying they can no longer do the thing they are famous for. While I am getting bored with this concept, it is done acceptably here, and it fits well in a sequel nearly 30 years later. Happy is also a recovering alcoholic, which, while a little clichéd, does make for a fun running gag, and possibly addresses something about the character Hal L. (Ben Stiller) that bugged me in the original. The problem with this plot line is that it feels far too similar to the middle act of the original; instead of everyone saying to Happy, “You’re not a golfer,” they are now saying,“You’re not a golfer anymore.”
There is a vast cast here, and many actors return to reprise their roles from the original. One of the most interesting returning characters is Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald), who goes through a bit of a redemption arc, which is refreshing after he was played up as such an unlikable character in the original. Many real-life golfers play themselves, making it more fun for golf fans to see how many they can spot. Along with many golfers’ cameos, there are also many real-life sports journalists and presenters. There are so many cameos like this that it almost feels like Sandler just wanted to see how many he could get into one movie. The fun thing about cameos is that they are just a quick moment where some audience members will think, “Oh hey, is that so-and-so?” while others might not even notice them, before the story continues. Still, it’s no longer fun if you’re doing it constantly, becoming more of a distraction.
However, one less repetitive aspect of the story is the addition of the Maxi Golf league. The idea is essentially miniature golf on a full-sized golf course, with each hole having a different theme and additional rules to speed up play. This doesn’t sound like a bad idea, but the movie plays it up as something terrible that Happy needs to help stop. This is mainly because Frank plans to have Maxi replace the current form of the sport. Still, it seems like the good guys are against even the idea of the league existing in the first place. The movie overplays the league’s dumbness, with it being dressed up to look more like WWE. Still, the basic idea didn’t seem that bad to me, and it annoyed me that the main characters didn’t give it a chance.
Far from being your happy place, Happy Gilmore 2 doesn’t even make par. Ignoring that a sequel to Happy Gilmore could have killed at the box office in the late ‘90s, there is nothing new or interesting about the story. The only real enjoyment and humor comes from rehashing what worked in the original. It spends too much time working in cameos and reminders that the original happened. While there are a few good moments of character growth and humor, there isn’t nearly enough to warrant making this sequel almost three decades later.
Rating: Didn’t like it
Happy Gilmore 2 is currently streaming on Netflix
You can read more from John Tillyard, and follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd