Review of Happy Gilmore 2

It seemed like Sandler gave away a decent amount of creative control this time, to the benefit of everyone. There were tons of callbacks and even some meta-analysis of elements of the first one that have aged poorly. Ben Stiller actually acted instead of just playing Ben Stiller. Eminem was a chameleon. I actually didn’t even know it was him until I went on Wikipedia after the fact. The legendary Verne Lundquist brought his A-game.

Unless you really like golf or Adam Sandler, this is not the movie for you. If you do fall into either of those categories, you’re in for a treat. The movie is entertaining in a dumb way and has Easter Eggs and cameos for days. I actually like Sandler the writer and Sandler the semi-serious actor. I think he has range that he never tapped into because he was too busy making screw ball comedies with his friends. I don’t blame him, but it is still unfortunate.

John Daly steals every scene he is in. He out-acted Steve Buscemi. If Long John ever decides to quit the Champions Tour, he could act as well as commentate. Lee Trevino can still act. Xander Schaufele needs to stick to golf. Scottie Scheffler can add acting to golf and pickle ball for things he is world-class at. Hot Take- Julie Bowen is the best person in the movie. She has to play a ridiculous role, and never breaks character, like even a little. Hotter take- much like Top Gun: Maverick, it is a sequel that surpasses the original and makes the original substantially better. Hottest take- Godfather 2 was not as good as the original, and unlike Happy Gilmore 2, did not make the original better at all.

There are like fifty cameos in this movie. Golf Digest actually ranked all of them. I’m pretty sure the article is free, if you want to see the definitive unofficial rankings. I understand how movies like this are low-hanging fruit for critics looking to post negative reviews. They won’t have to check their mailboxes come Oscar season. Hell, it isn’t even one of the top ten golf movies of all time. I’m not going to bother to make that list. Maybe someday.

I generally try to refrain from sharing political opinions on here. This movie did more to advance the PGA-LIV-PIF merger than anything else. Not the Saudi Royal Family pushing for a deal, not Tiger meeting with Trump at the White House to try to get a deal done, this silly movie has done the most, and it is not even a close second. I want the merger done yesterday. I don’t really care how. It is going to be messy no matter what, so just do it. Either the merger happens, or enough guys let their LIV contracts expire that the league folds. Those seem to be the only two possibilities. Merge, damn you. While we are young. I want Rahm, Bryson, and Reed back on the Tour while they are young enough to be relevant. I want Phil to join Tiger on the Champions Tour. This ends my political opinion portion.

One thing I’d never noticed, probably due to having not seen the original in… decades… was that Happy played with a hickory set. Hickory golf is one of the fastest growing sports, and I cannot praise it enough. Get a six-club standard hickory set, and play a round as soon as you can.

The movie depicts alcoholism and addiction counseling in… a certain way. It is not the butt of a joke, but it is also not meant to be taken seriously or realistically. It is actually more central to the plot than golf is. It doesn’t put alcoholism down or demean or dehumanize alcoholics, but alcoholism is a plot device is a kind of stupid movie that is absolutely not a kids movie, but tons of kids are going to see anyway. Dear god, I sound like Movie Mom or whatever that review company is.

Nobody is going to decide whether to watch or not to watch this movie based on this review. By now, most of you who are going to watch it have watched it. If you are on the fence, watch it. Watch them both back-to-back if you want background noise for a few hours. It is not a serious movie, and it knows it. I’m not here to bash it, and like I said, it exceeded my low expectations.