Granted the first Happy Gilmore wasn’t the best movie ever. But considering it’s an Adam Sandler movie, it’s probably one of his best…in the Happy Madison universe that is. Sandler has done some fine work as a serious actor and even in comedy movies where his entourage have no involvement.
I think many critics just saw his name in The Cobbler, a fantasy comedy-drama of a simple cobbler who discovers he can put himself in others’ identities when he puts on shoes repaired by a certain antique machine. What makes it different than Being John Malkovich is that it was written and directed by Tom McCarthy before his Oscar-winning Spotlight. It’s not the best movie but Sandler shows he doesn’t have to resort to sophomoric humor.
Released in the winter of 1996, Happy Gilmore was a modest hit for the time but it became popular on the home video market. Most famously was a scene where Gilmore gets into a fight with Bob Barker, his partner during a Pro-Am game. The movie itself is believed to have led to a new fan base for The Price is Right and Barker himself. Even Christopher McDonald said he initially had reservations about playing the antagonist Shooter McGavin, since he had been appearing in too many similar roles. But he later said it brought him a new fan base so he was glad he accepted it.
A sequel was inevitable. But just like when you putt a golf ball into the hole, if it comes close without initially going in, it doesn’t count. Almost 30 years have passed and most of the cast of the original have passed on. Barker passed away as did Carl Weathers, Joe Flaherty, Frances Bay and Richard Kiel. They should’ve made the sequel in the 2000s. But legacy sequels are hot right now, so you can’t blame Sandler and company for jumping on the bandwagon.
The problem is this makes Caddyshack II look like Toy Story 2 . At about two hours including credits, this movie is too long and the jokes keep getting hit to the rough. There is an appearance by John Daly that they milk to the point it’s no longer funny.
As a matter of fact, the only funny joke here is when Jack Nicklaus appearing as himself at a dinner with other real life professional golfers tells the waiter, played by Travis Kelce, he wants a drink that’s half lemonade and half iced tea. The waiter responds, “Arnold Palmer” And Nicklaus does a beat and says, “No Jack Nicklaus, but I do get that a lot.”
It’s a great joke because it has a great set-up. You don’t see it coming and Kelce and Nicklaus deliver it so well. I have gotten them confused too as Palmer came first before Nicklaus just like Plato and Aristotle. Also, an Arnold Palmer is a drink that is half-lemonade/half iced-tea. There, I just saved you about two hours.
The movie throws in so many cameos that it distracts from the story. Using Barker and Lee Trevino in the first movie was done where it worked. Here, it’s like someone poking you with a stick saying, “Look who it is.” There’s also too many flashbacks to the original movie as if people tuning in might not have seen the movie. Considering it’s streaming only on Netflix where the first is also streaming, there would be no reason to do so.
At the time the movie opened, Julie Bowen, was just starting out in her career as she played the golf tour PR rep Virginia Venit. She returns here but mostly in a glorified cameo as Happy accidentally kills her during a tournament where she gets hit by a golf ball. Immediately, I didn’t like it since this is such a cop-out cliched trope in these movies.
Of course, Happy gets depressed turns to drinking and quits golf. He loses all his money because Virginia managed their finances meaning he loses Grandma’s house too. Don’t you just hate sequels that basically undo the main plot points of the previous movie? I know I do. It’s sloppy writing and even for a Happy Madison movie, I expected more.
Happy has four sons, who all seem to act the same. I’m not even going to state their names because they act like a bunch of Bostonian frat boys always jumping up and down hooting and hollering. And it wouldn’t be an Adam Sandler movie if he wasn’t using his wife and kids in major roles. His wife, Jackie, plays a dance teacher and there’s a hint her and Happy will be a couple, but it goes nowhere. Vienna (Sunny Sandler) is Happy’s youngest daughter who wants to be a dancer and go to an expensive school.
So, the plot is about Happy trying to raise about a third of a million dollars. Saving his grandmother’s house in the first movie was noble but this just seems to be too sitcomish. Also, Happy goes to A.A. where he meets Charlotte (Sadie Sandler) who comments that Happy reminds her of her father. The A.A. is also led by Hal (Ben Stiller) who forces the people to do manual labor on his house.
There could’ve been something funny about this. I’ve always laughed at all those shows and movies about people in substance abuse recovery programs as they clean and mop floors. What exactly does that have to do with getting clean and sober? Most of those places charge outrageous amounts, you’d think they could contract with a cleaning service.
Anyway, there’s new antagonist this time in Frank Manatee (Benny Safdie) who is the CEO of Maxi Energy Drink and trying to redefine golf that it’s faster, shorter and more extreme. And like most people online have guessed, Shooter is actually an ally of Happy’s as he’s against Maxi’s plan to change the game. Maxi’s star is Billy Jenkins (Haley Joel Osment) who has a powerful swing like Happy’s.
The plot doesn’t really matter. Not that it did in the first movie. But at least there was some humor and moments of humility on Sandler’s part. None of that is here. Missing is Otto (Allen Covert) Happy’s shaggy homeless caddy and replaced by Bad Bunny as Oscar Mejias, who seems to be as ignorant as to what he’s doing as Happy’s caddy.
While it’s not one of Sandler’s worst comedies, it’s close up there. I don’t think anything will ever top Jack and Jill even though Sandler has been trying. He loads his movies down with too many famous people thinking their mere appearance is enough for a laugh. Steve Buscemi appears in a role that looks like took him two hours to film. Same for Rob Schneider who does his “You can dew it!” comment. Yet, I feel Schneider needed the work more than Buscemi. There’s also Eric Andre and Margaret Qualley as some golfers who Happy plays a game with to get back in the groove. But they’re also too busy doing the quipping and hollering that has become all too common with comedy movies now.
Seriously, doe anyone find this shit funny because I fucking don’t. It’s just actors screaming and yelling and doing nothing that adds to the plot. But it should be apparent by now that Sandler doesn’t really doesn’t care as long as he can convince a studio or whomever to throw a lot of money at his projects so he can take his entire family somewhere on a vacation during the shoot. He’s gone to Hawai’i twice, a South African luxurious resort, Paris and Italy for those Murder Mystery movies, the Georgia/Florida coast and so forth.
This movie was filmed in New Jersey and from the looks of it, there are a lot of nice places. Some of you older readers might remember when family members and friends used to show you pictures during slide presentations of their vacation trips before everyone started posting online. It was dull and boring, which this movie is. But I’m guessing you didn’t have to sit through about two hours of it.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 